Stunning shot of spiral galaxy captured by James Webb Space Telescope

One Twitter user says it resembles a 'portal to another dimension'

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  A colour composite image of the Messier 74 galaxy. Photo: Gabriel Brammer (Cosmic Dawn Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen) / James Webb Space Telescope

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  Jupiter and its moon Europa, left, are seen through the James Webb Space Telescope. Photo: Nasa

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  Captured in infrared light by Nasa's new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals areas of star birth in Carina Nebula. All photos: James Webb Space Telescope

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  Known as Webb's First Deep Field, the picture showcases a galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The image was revealed by US President Joe Biden on July 11 during an event at the White House.

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  An image of Stephan's Quintet, an area in space with a group of five galaxies.

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  Side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light (left) and mid-infrared light.

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  The telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star, called WASP-96 b. Photo: James Webb Space Telescope

A striking image of a glowing spiral galaxy 32 million light years from Earth has been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Messier 74, also called NDC 628, is slightly smaller than our Milky Way galaxy and is home to about 100 billion stars.

Webb took the image on Sunday, and it was revealed to the public by Gabriel Brammer, an astronomer at the Cosmic Dawn Centre in the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, on Twitter.

Webb’s predecessor the Hubble has given us views of the galaxy before, including its glittering stars.

But the latest photo has revealed the swirling gas and dust within the galaxy.

Space enthusiasts on Twitter were excited after seeing the image, with one user saying it looked like “a portal to another dimension”.

Another user said: "Looking at these pictures is equally beautiful and terrifying."

The first image from the James Webb was revealed by US President Joe Biden during a White House briefing on July 11.

It was of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.

The first full set of photos was published the next day and included the Southern Ring Nebula, Stephan’s Quintet (five galaxies) and the Carina Nebula.

When an image from the Hubble was released in 2017, Nada said: “It’s perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars and glowing pink regions of ionised hydrogen [hydrogen atoms that have lost their electrons].

“Tracing along the spiral arms are winding dust lanes that also begin very near the galaxy's nucleus and follow along the length of the spiral arms.”