Unexpected discovery uncovers major clue to the early universe

Televison Programme' Horizon'' Picture Shows: Computer-generated image. 'Dark Matter' which some scientists believe is everywhere in the universe is shown in pink. The structure shown is known as the 'Cosmic Web' and the image here is millions of light years across: galaxies (like our own Milky Way) are to be found at each of the yellow dots where Dark Matter is particularly dense. TX: BBC Two Thursday, February 9 2006 This week 'Horizon' discovers that 96% of the universe is missing. Only a tiny 4% of the universe is made of stuff we understand. The rest is made from something else - that we don't. Some scientists claim they know what it is - but others insist that nothing's missing at all, and that the real problem is far, far worse. They say that Newton, gravity and science itself is wrong, and needs to be re-written. Warning: Use of this copyright image is subject to Terms of Use of BBC Digital Picture Service. In particular, this image may only be used during the publicity period for the purpose of publicising 'Horizon' and provided by the copyright holder is credited. Any use of this image on the internet or for any other purpose whatsoever, including advertising or other commercial uses, requires the prior written approval of the copyright holder. — A model of the cosmic web, showing bright galaxies clustering where tendrils of gas meet(Picture: BBC)

Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered the earliest known thread of the ‘cosmic web’ ever detected.

The universe is made up of a cosmic web that is a vast network of filaments, sheets, and voids.

Galaxies are not randomly distributed throughout space, but rather found in these interconnected structures. The cosmic web formed as gravity drew matter together in the early universe.

In two recent papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists detail evidence that this massive cosmic highway stretches back nearly to the dawn of the universe.

A team of astronomers led by Xiaohui Fan used the Webb telescope’s NIRCam instrument to study a distant galaxy cluster called MACS0416.

While examining the data, they noticed a faint, elongated object they couldn’t identify.

Further observations of the object revealed that it was a filament of gas and stars located in the constellation Ursa Major, about 3 million light-years long.

Undated handout photo issued by NASA of a James Webb Space Telescope. Four galaxies that existed more than 13 billion years ago have been identified and confirmed by scientists as the earliest known to date. These galaxies were present around 350 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was just 2% of its current age. Issue date: Friday December 9, 2022. PA Photo. The confirmation comes from the data taken from Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is the largest and the most powerful telescope ever built. See PA story SCIENCE Galaxy. Photo credit should read: Nasa/ESA/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. — A team of astronomers led by Xiaohui Fan used the Webb telescope’s NIRCam instrument to study a distant galaxy cluster called MACS0416 (Picture: PA)

Located just 830 million years after the Big Bang, this filament is made up of 10 closely packed galaxies stretching over 3 million light-years.

This discovery is part of a project called ASPIRE (A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era), whose main goal is to study the properties of galaxies in the reionization era, which is the period of time when the first stars and galaxies formed.

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The project will use JWST’s powerful infrared capabilities to study the light from these early galaxies. The program will observe 25 quasars that existed within the first billion years after the Big Bang, a time known as the Epoch of Reionization.

The discovery of this filament is proof that the cosmic web was already in place just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, helping us better understand how galaxies formed and evolved over time.

The JWST has already provided dazzling images giving scientists a peek into some of the oldest and most distant galaxies ever seen. The data collected from its instruments allows them to understand these galaxies more deeply.

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