The James Webb telescope's first stunning cosmic images are here

A new dawn of looking into the deepest part of the universe has begun.

Scientists have released the first full-color, scientific images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful such instrument ever built. The telescope is positioned to peer at some of the earliest stars and galaxies ever created. It takes a long time for the ancient light to reach us and so we have to look back in time.

Some of the most distant galaxies and a giant star nursery are included in the first set of images. It gives a glimpse into a giant planet outside our solar system.

Thaller said at the image unveil Tuesday that the mission is open for business. This is not the end. The best is still to come.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured stellar views for over 30 years. The Hubble telescope has the ability to see fainter objects, but the Webb telescope has the ability to peer through thick clouds of Cosmic Dust.

Some of the most anticipated space images have been released. NASA will add more images as they are released.

SMACS 0723

The population of galaxies in this image is far away. The foreground light is distorted by Galaxies.

The light has traveled for billions of years. You are looking at the galaxy cluster SMACS-0723 as it appeared some 4.5 billion years ago. There are more ancient galaxies behind that one.

This is the deepest and most detailed image of the distant universe to date. NASA said that the image of the galaxy cluster SMACS-0723 is overflowing with detail. "For the first time, thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the IR, have appeared in the view of the astronomer." There is a patch of sky that is roughly the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length.

NASA calls this image "Webb’s First Deep Field." It's an image of the galaxy cluster "SMACS 0723." The mass of the galaxies distorts, and magnifies, more distant galaxies in the background. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI

Exoplanet spectrum from WASP-96 b

The most stunning observations will not come from pretty images. The atmosphere of distant alien worlds can be determined with the help of instruments called strontiums. Water, methane, and carbon dioxide can be found on some planets, which may mean they're in the right place.

The first spectrum of gases on an exoplanet is from WASP-96 b. It took just 3.4 days for it to circle its star.

NASA said that the signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, was captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The most detailed of its kind to date, the observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecule based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most advanced of its kind to date.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The Carina Nebula

Some of the most beautiful parts of space are the nigches. There are giant clouds of dust and gas. New stars can be found there. A place where large stars have already formed can be seen in the picture.

Soon, an image will be released.

The Southern Ring Nebula

A planetary nebula is a type of object. There are shells of gas and dust in the sky. It is some 2,000 light-years away from us.

Soon, an image will be released.

Stephan’s Quintet

Some 290 million light-years away is where Stephan's quintet is located. According to NASA, four of them are relatively close to one another.

Soon, an image will be released.

The deep space observatory

NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency collaborated on the design and construction of the telescope. "With this telescope, it's really hard not to break records," said Thomas Zurbuchen, an astronomer and NASA's associate administrator.

Engineers in a cleanroom posing in front of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA / Chris Gunn

Here's how he will do it.

• The mirror is over 21 feet wide. The Hubble Space Telescope's mirror is two and a half times bigger. The more light that is captured, the more distant the objects are. A few hundred million years after the Bigbang, the telescope will peer at stars and galaxies that formed over 13 billion years ago.

  "We're going to see the very first stars and galaxies that ever formed, and we're going to do it at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee," Jean said.

• Unlike Hubble, which mostly views light that's visible to us, Webb views light that's not visible. We can see a lot more of the universe. The light waves are able to slip through the clouds because of the longer wavelength of the light. Hubble's eyesight can't penetrate places that are not visible to the naked eye.

  It lifts the veil.

• Our understanding of distant worlds will be greatly improved by the use of specialized equipment that is carried by the telescope. Water, carbon dioxide, and methane can be detected by the instruments in the atmosphere of distant planets. The astronomer will look at planets in the stars. What will we find?

  Mercedes Lpez-Morales, an exoplanet researcher and astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian, told Mashable that they might learn things they didn't think about.