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JADES-GS-z13-1 Spectrum Graphic

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A graph labeled “JADES-GS-Z13-1, The Onset of Reionization, NIRSpec, PRISM.” The x-axis is labeled “Wavelength of Light, microns” and extends from about 0.5 microns to 4.0 microns, with tick marks every 0.5 microns from 1.0 to 4.0. The y-axis is labeled “Brightness” and has a horizontal, dashed line about a third of the way up from the bottom. An up arrow is labeled “brighter” at the top of the y-axis, and a down arrow is labeled “dimmer.” A jagged blue line runs horizontally across the graph. It fluctuates above and below the dashed line until reaching a wavelength of about 1.7 microns, at which point it peaks before gradually decreasing again, and going just below the dashed line. The wavelength where the emission peaks has an arrow pointing down labeled “Lyman-alpha emission, z = 13.05.”

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Release Date

March 26, 2025 12:00PM (EDT)

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Release ID: 2025-116

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected unexpected light from a distant galaxy. The galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed just 330 million years after the big bang (corresponding to a redshift of z=13.05), shows bright emission from hydrogen known as Lyman-alpha emission. This is surprising because that emission should have been absorbed by a dense fog of neutral hydrogen that suffused the early universe. In this graphic, the solid blue line shows the cleaned, averaged spectrum while the faint blue shows the error bars.

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NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Carniani (Scuola Normale Superiore), P. Jakobsen (University of Copenhagen), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

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