NASA’s Webb Uncovers Dense Cosmic Knot in the Early Universe

October 20, 2022 10:00AM (EDT)Release ID: 2022-058
Infographic titled “Motions of Gas Around an Extremely Red Quasar; Hubble ACS and WFC3 Imaging and Webb NIRSpec IFU Spectroscopy

Summary

Webb continues its search into the earliest times of our universe, revealing the surprising formation of a massive galaxy cluster around a powerful, red quasar.

Astronomers looking into the early universe have made a surprising discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: a cluster of massive galaxies in the process of forming around an extremely red quasar. The result will expand our understanding of how galaxy clusters in the early universe came together and formed the cosmic web we see today.

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Full Article

Astronomers looking into the early universe have made a surprising discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: a cluster of massive galaxies in the process of forming around an extremely red quasar. The result will expand our understanding of how galaxy clusters in the early universe came together and formed the cosmic web we see today. A quasar, a special type of active galactic nucleus (AGN), is a compact region with a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Gas falling into a supermassive black hole makes the quasar bright enough to outshine all the galaxy’s stars The ...

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News releases highlighting the discoveries of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, under NASA Contract NAS5-03127. News release content is developed by the News Team in STScI’s Office of Public Outreach.

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