Universe Today
• Evan Gough
Images from the James Webb Space Telescope show an apparent abundance of bright galaxies just 400 to 500 million years after the Big Bang. Researchers propose that powerful winds cleared gas from these early galaxies, making their light more visible and offering an explanation for the unexpectedly bright population.
JWST
Latest source-backed stories
Images from the James Webb Space Telescope show an apparent abundance of bright galaxies just 400 to 500 million years after the Big Bang. Researchers propose that powerful winds cleared gas from these early galaxies, making their light more visible and offering an explanation for the unexpectedly bright population.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope detected the most deuterium-rich methane measured in the Solar System in 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object. The finding suggests the comet’s ices formed in a cold, distant, low-metallicity environment, offering clues to the conditions where material around other stars originated.
Coronagraphs help telescopes search for faint exoplanets by blocking their stars’ glare, but the instruments have limits. Researchers have developed a new technique using the James Webb Space Telescope’s “digital twin” to make dim planets easier to find, addressing a persistent challenge in exoplanet observation.
High activity
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found that interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has ice unlike familiar solar-system comets and more like bodies beyond Neptune. Separate Hubble and Webb observations of faint outer-solar-system objects are revealing clues to the solar system’s earliest history.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a lopsided exoplanet and blistering winds on its evening side, challenging the familiar image of an evenly illuminated world. The finding shows how observations can expose differences across an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope tracked water-cloud changes in a brown dwarf about 7.5 light-years away, while separate studies describe deformed atmospheres on ultra-hot exoplanets and gemstone-forming conditions on a scorching, low-density world. Together, the findings extend observations of weather and atmospheric structure beyond the planets in our solar system.
Teams behind the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have released new images capturing stellar nurseries, galaxies and gravitational lensing. Webb is jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, with the Canadian Space Agency also participating; both observatories contributed to the latest collection.
The newly observed “little red dots” have prompted questions about what they can reveal about the early universe. Scientists do not yet know what the objects are or what they may show, making their identification a key step in assessing their significance for understanding cosmic origins.
Create a free account to see more recent JWST stories and keep bookmarks in one place.
Our James Webb Space Telescope coverage provides a detailed look at the most powerful space telescope ever built. Stay informed on its mission to explore the universe's distant realms, from the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang to the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets, and the groundbreaking discoveries it promises to unveil.
