James Webb Space Telescope finds an 'extreme' glow coming from 90% of the universe's earliest galaxies.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered that nearly all of the universe's earliest galaxies were filled with dazzling gas clouds that blazed brighter than the emerging stars within them.
The discovery, published in the journal Nature, could help solve a mystery that has been puzzling astronomers for years: why are some early galaxies so much brighter than they should be?
The answer, it seems, is that the gas in these galaxies is acting like a giant fluorescent bulb, absorbing light from the stars and re-emitting it at a higher energy. This process, known as fluorescence, is what makes fluorescent lights glow.
The discovery of this extreme glow in early galaxies is a testament to the power of the James Webb Space Telescope. JWST's infrared vision allows it to see through the dust and gas that obscures galaxies from view in optical telescopes.
The discovery of this extreme glow is also a major step forward in our understanding of how galaxies formed in the early universe. The fact that this glow is seen in nearly all early galaxies suggests that it is a key part of the galaxy formation process.
Astronomers are now using JWST to study this extreme glow in more detail. They hope to learn more about how it works and what it can tell us about the early universe.