NASA released a vivid new infrared image that was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope of the star-forming region NGC 346.

The image was taken using the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument and has a bit of a spooky appearance, as NASA alluded to in its post on X (the social media platform previously called Twitter) with its "grim grinning ghosts" caption.

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The star-forming region exists in a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way known as the Small Magellanic Cloud, and it is more "primeval" when compared to the Milky Way because it has fewer "heavy elements," according to the space agency.

NASA says the "blue tendrils" are the tracings of emission materials, such as dusty silicates and "sooty" chemical molecules, while the red parts of the image are emanated from warm dust in space, and the bright parts of the image are from the vast number of protostars in the region.

"By combining Webb data in both the near-infrared and mid-infrared, astronomers are able to take a fuller census of the stars and protostars within this dynamic region. The results have implications for our understanding of galaxies that existed billions of years ago, during an era in the universe known as “cosmic noon,” when star formation was at its peak and heavy element concentrations were lower, as seen in the [Small Magellanic Cloud]," NASA said in a blog post.

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The James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space by NASA in December 2021, and the space agency has been releasing images from the telescope since July 2022, touting its advanced capabilities.

Since it was launched into space, images from the telescope have shown the scale and complexity of the cosmos. The telescope has made several breakthroughs as scientists seek to understand the formation of the universe and of planets such as Earth.