Stars peek through the dusty, winding arms of NGC 5134, a spiral galaxy located 65 million light-years away, in this

Feb. 20

, 2026, image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument collects the mid-infrared light emitted by the warm dust speckled through the galaxy’s clouds, tracing the clumps and strands of dusty gas. The telescope’s Near Infrared Camera records shorter-wavelength near-infrared light, mostly from the stars and star clusters that dot the galaxy’s spiral arms.

The image helps researchers understand star formation in spiral galaxies. Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy