Galaxy cluster WHL0137-08
A black background is scattered with hundreds of small galaxies of different shapes, ranging in colour from white to yellow to red. Some galaxies, mostly the redder galaxies, are distorted, appearing to be stretched out or mirror imaged. Just a little bit above the centre, there is a bright source of light, the star Earendel, with eight bright diffraction spikes extending out from it. Below the star are several noticeably fuzzy white galaxies that resemble cotton balls – these are part of a galaxy cluster.
Earendel is positioned along a ripple in spacetime that gives it extreme magnification, allowing it to emerge into view from its host galaxy, which appears as a red smear across the sky. The star is detectable only due to the combined power of human technology and nature via an effect called gravitational lensing.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Coe (AURA/STScI for ESA), Z. Levay, using the James Webb Space Telescope

Front Cover:
Little Grebes, very commonly seen on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, where Chinar trees also grow. The little grebe is an excellent swimmer and diver (see its webbed feet) and pursues its fish and aquatic invertebrate prey underwater. It uses the vegetation skilfully as a hiding place. Like all grebes, it nests at the water's edge, since its legs are set very far back and it cannot walk well.