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NASA's Webb Sees Galaxy Mysteriously Clearing Fog of Early Universe

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March 26, 2025 12:00PM (EDT)Release ID: 2025-116
A two panel image. At left, hundreds of tiny galaxies are scattered across the black background of space. At right, a small red dot is in the middle of the panel. To its upper left is a face-on spiral galaxy, and to its lower right is an edge-on spiral galaxy. A handful of other small background galaxies are seen against the black background of space.

Summary

Unexpected, bright hydrogen emission caught astronomers by surprise.

The early universe was filled with a thick fog of neutral hydrogen. Even though the first stars and galaxies emitted copious amounts of ultraviolet light, that light struggled to pierce the fog. It took hundreds of millions of years for the neutral hydrogen to become ionized, electrons stripped from protons, allowing light to travel freely through space.

Astronomers are seeking to understand this unique time of transformation, known as the era of reionization. A newly discovered galaxy illuminated this era in an unexpected way. JADES-GS-z13-1, observed just 330 million years after the big bang, shows bright hydrogen emission that should have been absorbed by the cosmic fog. Theorists are struggling to explain how its light could have pierced the fog at such an early time.

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Full Article

Using the unique infrared sensitivity of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers can examine ancient galaxies to probe secrets of the early universe. Now, an international team of astronomers has identified bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in an unexpectedly early time in the universe’s history. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to explain how this light could have pierced the thick fog of neutral hydrogen that filled space at that time. The Webb telescope discovered the incredibly distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed to exist just 330 million years ...

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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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