The wall of dense gas and dust resembles a massive winged creature, its glowing maw lit by a bright star as it soars through cosmic filaments.

An international research team on Monday revealed the first images of the Orion Nebula captured with the James Webb Space Telescope, leaving astronomers "blown away."

The stellar nursery is situated in the constellation Orion, 1,350 light-years away from Earth, in a similar setting in which our own solar system was birthed more than 4.5 billion years ago.

Astronomers are interested in the region to better understand what happened during the first million years of our planetary evolution.

The images were obtained as part of the Early Release Science program and involved more than 100 scientists in 18 countries, with institutions including the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Western University in Canada, and the University of Michigan.

After 1,000 days in orbit around the Earth, the CHEOPS space telescope shows almost no signs of wear. Under these conditions, it could continue to reveal the fascinating details of many exoplanets for many years to come. CHEOPS is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, led by the University of Bern (UNIBE) in collaboration with the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

Since its launch from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, on December 18, 2019, the CHEOPS telescope in Earth's orbit has demonstrated its functionality and precision beyond expectations. During this time, it has revealed the characteristics of numerous fascinating planets beyond our solar system (exoplanets) and has become a key instrument for astronomers in Europe and worldwide.

In over 1 million of minutes of observation time, CHEOPS has revealed exoplanets from every angle: their night sides when they pass in front of their stars, their day sides when they pass behind their stars and all the phases in between, just like the moon.

Jeff Bezos' rocket company suffered its first launch failure Monday.