There is so much going on inside this seemingly tiny galaxy.
Nicknamed the Firefly Sparkle for appearing
like a swarm of lightning bugs on a warm summer night,
this galaxy is gleaming with star clusters.
Due to its long warped arc, researchers easily
picked out 10 distinct star clusters,
each of which have been examined in great detail.
They appear here in shades of pink, purple, and blue.
The color of each helped scientists to confirm
that star formation didn’t happen all at once in this galaxy,
but was staggered through time.
Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope,
this is the very first time researchers have detected and
examined a galaxy that existed around
600 million years after the big bang.
which carries many resemblances to our own Milky Way
at a similar stage of its own development.
Researchers can’t predict how this disorganized galaxy
will take shape over billions of years,
but there are two other galaxies “hanging out”
within a tight perimeter that may
influence how it builds mass as it evolves.
Each time one galaxy passes another,
gas condenses and cools, allowing new stars to
form in clumps, adding to the galaxies’ masses.
Previously scientists were unsure if it would be possible to resolve a galaxy
that existed so early in the universe into so many distinct components,
but Webb was able to image the galaxy well for two reasons:
The first is a benefit of the cosmos:
A massive foreground galaxy cluster radically
enhanced and magnified the distant galaxy’s
appearance through a natural effect known as gravitational lensing.
When combined with the telescope’s specialization
in high-resolution infrared light,
Webb delivered unprecedented new data about the galaxy’s contents.
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