JWST captures its most extreme gravitational lens ever | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Jun, 2025

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posted on Jun. 30, 2025 at 2:18 pm

This side-by-side image shows galaxy cluster Abell S1063 as imaged with JWST (L) and Hubble (rotated, R). The longer wavelength coverage and greater exposure time with JWST reveals features that Hubble never could have hoped to see. (Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Atek, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb); Acknowledgement: R. Endsley (L); NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI) (R))

Massive galaxy cluster Abell S1063, 4.5 billion light-years away, bends and distorts the space nearby. Here’s what a JWST deep field shows.

All throughout the Universe, gravity reigns supreme.

While the web of dark matter (purple, left) might seem to determine cosmic structure formation on its own, the feedback from normal matter (red, at right) can severely impact the formation of structure on galactic and smaller scales. Both dark matter and normal matter, in the right ratios, are required to explain the Universe as we observe it, with dark energy needed to explain how the expansion rate has evolved over time. Structure formation is hierarchical within the Universe, with small star clusters forming first, early protogalaxies and galaxies forming next, followed by galaxy groups and clusters, and lastly by the large-scale cosmic web. (Credit: Illustris Collaboration/Illustris Simulation)

Its unavoidable effects create massive, bound structures within our expanding Universe.

Most of the largest known galaxies in the Universe are found at the hearts of massive galaxy clusters, like the Hercules galaxy cluster shown here. Over time, galaxies within these clusters collide and merge, leading to bursts of new star-formation but making the galaxies more gas-poor, overall. After enough time has passed, most galaxies within such a cluster will become giant ellipticals, rather than disk-containing spirals. (Credit: ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM. Acknowledgement: OmegaCen/Astro-WISE/Kapteyn Institute)

JWST’s first science image unveiled a spectacular galaxy cluster.

This almost-perfectly-aligned image composite shows the first JWST deep field’s view of the core of cluster SMACS 0723 and contrasts it with the older Hubble view. Looking at the image details that are absent from the Hubble data but present in the JWST data shows us just how much discovery potential is awaiting scientists working with JWST. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; NASA/ESA/Hubble (STScI); composite by E. Siegel)

With under a day of observations, impressive new features were revealed.

This NIRCam view of a selection of the gravitationally lensed region surrounding galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 contains multiple lensed galaxies, including the thrice-appearing Sparkler galaxy, highlighted here. The “sparkles” have been identified as star-forming knots of gas appearing atop already-existing globular clusters. Below the left-center of the second image of the Sparkler galaxy, a foreground star within the Milky way shows the characteristic diffraction spike pattern for JWST. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Annotation: E. Siegel)

MarylandDigitalNews.comJune 30, 2025

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