James Webb and Hubble telescopes join forces to explore a cosmic nursery: Space photo of the week

a photo of blue and orange cloudy shapes in outer space with countless twinkling stars — This combined image from NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes shows open clusters NGC 460 and NGC 456 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. (Image credit: Image credit: NASA, ESA, and C. Lindberg (Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America))

QUICK FACTS

What it is: The open star clusters NGC 460 and NGC 456

Where it is: 200,000 light-years away, in the Small Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxy

When it was shared: July 7, 2025

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) joined forces to capture a striking new view of two open star clusters within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

Star clusters are groups of stars that share an origin, form at roughly the same time and location, and are held loosely together by gravity. The stars in NGC 460 and NGC 456 are no more than 10 million years old — a stark contrast to the sun's 4.5 billion years of age.

Featuring bluish clouds of gas full of young stars and red filaments of dust, the image reveals the process by which stars are formed. As new stars grow within clouds of gas, they expel radiation or collapse, triggering further star formation. Hubble captured, in the visible and near-infrared spectra, the glowing, ionized gas shaped by radiation from stars — the bluish "bubbles" in the image.

Meanwhile, JWST observed the same regions in infrared light, revealing the red dust lanes glowing as they absorb starlight. JWST cannot directly see ionized gas bubbles, and Hubble doesn't detect dust — it sees only dark silhouettes — so the collaboration is ideal.