James Webb Telescope finds life? NASA unveils largest-ever map of the recorded universe
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled a record-breaking cosmic map, charting over 800,000 galaxies beyond the Milky Way in a mission that stretches the boundaries of astronomical research.
It marks the most detailed and expansive map of the distant universe ever produced.
The findings come from the COSMOS-Web project, a deep field survey covering just 0.54 square degrees of sky, yet offering a window into 98% of the universe's history.
Conducted over 255 hours of continuous observation, the COSMOS-Web survey used JWST's advanced infrared sensors to peer across space and time.
Webb observed these little green galaxies in Pandora's Cluster. Were they the cause of a massive cosmic makeover?
In the universe's first billion years, it was immersed in a fog of neutral hydrogen gas. Today, this gas is ionized (stripped of its electrons). Which cosmic objects… pic.twitter.com/5DJ8NjxlIn — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 12, 2025
Unlike visible light telescopes such as Hubble, JWST detects ancient infrared light—light stretched by the expansion of the universe and invisible to standard optical instruments.
'This project allows us to see galaxies and supermassive black holes not even visible with Hubble,' said Professor Caitlin Casey, one of the lead researchers. 'We're not just seeing more galaxies—we're seeing entirely different types than ever before.'
The data reveals an unexpectedly dense population of galaxies in the early universe—up to 10 times more than anticipated within the first 500 million years after the Big Bang.
In some cases, galaxies appear just 300 million years after the universe began, offering a glimpse into the earliest stages of cosmic formation.
The COSMOS-Web initiative also stands out for its commitment to open science. After two years of data processing, the entire dataset is now available publicly.
This transparency allows not just specialists, but also students and independent researchers to study and interpret the universe's infancy.
The implications of the discovery are wide-ranging.
From providing insights into the formation of early galaxies and black holes to enabling future research into cosmic structure, COSMOS-Web may serve as a foundational reference for years to come.
With JWST continuing its mission, astronomers anticipate even more breakthroughs as they trace the evolution of the universe—from the smallest galaxies to the vast structures shaping space as we know it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
7 days ago
- Express Tribune
James Webb Telescope finds life? NASA unveils largest-ever map of the recorded universe
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled a record-breaking cosmic map, charting over 800,000 galaxies beyond the Milky Way in a mission that stretches the boundaries of astronomical research. It marks the most detailed and expansive map of the distant universe ever produced. The findings come from the COSMOS-Web project, a deep field survey covering just 0.54 square degrees of sky, yet offering a window into 98% of the universe's history. Conducted over 255 hours of continuous observation, the COSMOS-Web survey used JWST's advanced infrared sensors to peer across space and time. Webb observed these little green galaxies in Pandora's Cluster. Were they the cause of a massive cosmic makeover? In the universe's first billion years, it was immersed in a fog of neutral hydrogen gas. Today, this gas is ionized (stripped of its electrons). Which cosmic objects… — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 12, 2025 Unlike visible light telescopes such as Hubble, JWST detects ancient infrared light—light stretched by the expansion of the universe and invisible to standard optical instruments. 'This project allows us to see galaxies and supermassive black holes not even visible with Hubble,' said Professor Caitlin Casey, one of the lead researchers. 'We're not just seeing more galaxies—we're seeing entirely different types than ever before.' The data reveals an unexpectedly dense population of galaxies in the early universe—up to 10 times more than anticipated within the first 500 million years after the Big Bang. In some cases, galaxies appear just 300 million years after the universe began, offering a glimpse into the earliest stages of cosmic formation. The COSMOS-Web initiative also stands out for its commitment to open science. After two years of data processing, the entire dataset is now available publicly. This transparency allows not just specialists, but also students and independent researchers to study and interpret the universe's infancy. The implications of the discovery are wide-ranging. From providing insights into the formation of early galaxies and black holes to enabling future research into cosmic structure, COSMOS-Web may serve as a foundational reference for years to come. With JWST continuing its mission, astronomers anticipate even more breakthroughs as they trace the evolution of the universe—from the smallest galaxies to the vast structures shaping space as we know it.
Express Tribune
28-05-2025
- Express Tribune
Webb telescope captures deep view of ancient galaxies
The James Webb space telescope's deepest view of a single target yet depicts spinning arcs of light that are galaxies from the universe's distant past, the European Space Agency said Tuesday. The new image took the world's most powerful telescope more than 120 hours to capture, making it the longest Webb has ever focused on a single target. It is also "Webb's deepest gaze on a single target to date", the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a statement, making the image one of the deepest ever captured of the cosmos. At the bright centre of the image is a massive cluster of galaxies called Abell S1063, which is 4.5 billion light years from Earth. But it is not the true target. Such huge celestial objects can bend the light of things behind them, creating a kind of magnifying glass called a gravitational lens. Therefore the "warped arcs" spinning around the Abell S1063 are what really interest scientists, the ESA said in a statement. Because looking into distant space also means looking back in time, scientists hope to learn how the first galaxies formed during a period known as the Cosmic Dawn, when the universe was only a few million years old. The image includes nine separate shots of different near-infrared wavelengths of light, the ESA said. Since coming online in 2022, the Webb telescope has ushered in a new era of scientific breakthroughs. It has also revealed that galaxies in the early universe are far bigger than scientists expected, leading some to suspect there might be something wrong with our understanding of the cosmos.
Business Recorder
26-05-2025
- Business Recorder
Astronomers spot galaxy shaped like the Milky Way but is far more massive
WASHINGTON: Astronomers have observed a galaxy dating to an earlier epoch in the universe's history that surprisingly is shaped much like our Milky Way - a spiral structure with a straight bar of stars and gas running through its center - but far more massive, offering new insight into galactic formation. The distant galaxy, called J0107a, was observed as it appeared 11.1 billion years ago, when the universe was about a fifth of its current age. The researchers used data from the Chile-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study the galaxy. They determined that the galaxy's mass, including its stars and gas, was more than 10 times greater than that of the Milky Way, and it was forming stars at an annual rate approximately 300 times greater. J0107a was more compact than the Milky Way, however. 'The galaxy is a monster galaxy with a high star formation rate and plenty of gas, much more than present-day galaxies,' said astronomer Shuo Huang of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Nature. 'This discovery,' said study co-author Toshiki Saito, an astronomer at Shizuoka University in Japan, 'raises the important question: How did such a massive galaxy form in such an early universe?' While a few galaxies that are undergoing star formation at a similar rate to J0107a exist in today's universe, almost all of them are ones that are in the process of a galactic merger or collision. There was no sign of such circumstances involving this galaxy. J0107a and the Milky Way have some commonalities. 'They are similarly huge and possess a similar barred structure. However, the Milky Way had plenty of time to form its huge structures, while J0107a didn't,' Saito said. In the first few billion years after the Big Bang event 13.8 billion years ago that initiated the universe, galaxies were turbulent entities and were much richer in gas than those existing currently - factors that fostered extreme bursts of star formation. While galaxies with highly organized structures like the barred spiral shape of the Milky Way are common now, that was not the case 11.1 billion years ago. 'Compared to other monster galaxies in the distant universe (dating to an earlier cosmic epoch) whose shapes are usually disturbed or irregular, it is unexpected that J0107a looks very similar to present-day spiral galaxies,' Huang said. 'Theories about the formation of present-day galactic structures may need to be revised,' Huang added. The Webb telescope, as it peers across vast distances back to the early universe, has found that galaxies with a spiral shape appeared much earlier than previously known. J0107a is now one of the earliest-known examples of a barred spiral galaxy. About two thirds of spiral galaxies observed in the universe today possess a bar structure. The bar is thought to serve as a form of stellar nursery, bringing gas inward from the galaxy's spiral arms. Some of the gas forms what are called molecular clouds. Gravity causes the contraction of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. The bar that is part of J0107a measures about 50,000 light years in length, Huang said. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The Webb telescope 'has been studying the morphology of early massive galaxies intensely recently. However, their dynamics are still poorly understood,' Saito said.
