A galaxy nine billion light years away discovered by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope 'mirrors the early Milky Way', a new study reveals.

The Sparkler galaxy appeared as a small orange curve in the first image from the James Webb telescope released in July last year (yellow rectangle)

For the study, researchers examined the age and metallicity distribution of a dozen of the compact star clusters surrounding the Sparkler.

The combined mass of SMACS 0723 operates as a gravitational lens and, according to NASA, 'magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations'.

Webb's NIRCam, which captures light from the edge of the visible through the near infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, brought distant galaxies into sharp focus in the image.

The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.