Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed LAP1-B, an ultra-faint galaxy that existed just 800 million years after the Big Bang, making it the most chemically primitive galaxy ever detected. The observation was made possible through gravitational lensing by the MACS J046 galaxy cluster, which magnified the galaxy's light by 100 times. The galaxy's extremely low stellar mass of no more than 3,300 Suns provides crucial insights into the early universe's formation.
Background
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA's premier space observatory, designed to observe the most distant objects in the universe and study the formation of the first stars and galaxies. Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, where massive objects bend and magnify light from more distant objects behind them.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- May 13, 2026 at 11:53 PM
- Score
- 8.0 / 10