ALT A bright young star, located in the upper left quadrant, shines through layers of wispy white and blue clouds on a dark background. The star is surrounded by thick orange spikes in an eight-pointed pattern, overlaid across the majority of the frame. A patch of greenish-yellow clouds appears in the top right area of the image. There are a couple other bright spots seen as glowing yellow dots among the clouds, as well as another bright star with smaller blue diffraction spikes in the bottom right corner.
ALT Webb’s image of NGC 4254 shows a densely populated face-on spiral galaxy anchored by its central region, which has a light blue haze, with a tiny blue dot at its core. This central region appears to the right of center. Spiny spiral arms made of stars, gas, and dust start at the center, rotating counterclockwise. The spiral arms extend off the frame in all directions. The spiral arm to the right is more distinct than the ones found to the left. The spiral arms of the galaxy are largely orange, ranging from dark to bright orange. Scattered across the packed scene are some additional bright blue pinpoints of light, which are stars or star clusters spread throughout the galaxy. In areas where there is less orange, it is darker, and some dark regions look more circular.
ALT Fluffy tan-colored nebula clouds, with rust-colored highlights, surround a black central area. Within that area, the focal point of the image is one large yellow star with eight long thin points. To the right of this star is a bright star cluster in an oval shape. The stars within the cluster look like tiny pale blue sparkles. The cluster is more densely packed at its core and scatters outward. Towards the bottom of the image, multiple arms appear to spiral out of a cloudy tan knob. Taken together, the structures resemble a spider or a squid. Other blue and yellow eight-pointed stars, as well as distant galaxies, are dotted throughout the image. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team
