Scientists have been given an unprecedented glimpse into the birth of stars and the early stages of the universe, after a new image showing a cluster more than 10bn years ago was released by the James Webb space telescope.

The image shows a young cluster of stars, known as NGC 346, which is more than 200,000 light years from Earth.

Scientists have taken a particular interest in the cluster, which is in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), because it resembles the conditions of the early universe when star formation was at its peak.

Astronomers hope that studying the region could give more answers as to how the first stars formed during the “cosmic noon”, only 2 or 3 billion years after the big bang.

Dr Olivia Jones, the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Webb fellow at its UK astronomy technology centre, is lead author on a paper featuring the images.

Jones said: “This is the first time we can detect the full sequence of star formation of both low and high mass stars in another galaxy.

“This means we have far more data to study at high resolution, offering us new information on how the birth of stars shapes their environment and even greater insight into the star formation process.”

The NGC 346 cluster houses protostars, which are clouds of