Washington, United States

James Webb Space Telescope has released a stunning photo of another spectacle of the universe. Astronomers are awestruck after seeing the first images of the Orion Nebula that were released by an international research team on Monday (September 12). 

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The Orion Nebula is approximately 1,344 light years away from earth. It is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. 

The Orion Nebula is in a similar setting in which our own solar system was birthed more than 4.5 billion years ago. Its age is over three million years. 

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Hence, the observation is significant as it paves the way to understanding the entire cycle of star birth. 

After the latest observation, astronomers want to probe the region to better understand what happened during the first million years of our planetary evolution. 

Images of the Orion Nebula were obtained as part of the Early Release Science programme. It involved more than 100 scientists in 18 countries. 

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Western University astrophysicist Els Peeters said in a statement: "We are blown away by the breathtaking images of the Orion Nebula. These new observations allow us to better understand how massive stars transform the gas and dust cloud in which they are born." 

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Previously for the Hubble Space Telescope, it was difficult to observe nebulas with visible light telescopes as they are obscured by large amounts of dust. But Webb has made it possible. 

James Webb is the world's largest and most complex space science telescope ever built. Edwin Bergin, University of Michigan chair of astronomy and a member of the international research team said, "We hope to gain understanding about the entire cycle of star birth." 

"In this image we are looking at this cycle where the first generation of stars is essentially irradiating the material for the next generation. The incredible structures we observe will detail how the feedback cycle of stellar birth occurs in our galaxy and beyond," Bergin added. 

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