James Webb Space Telescope Discovery

Webb Detects Universe’s Most Distant Organic Molecules

Cosmic smoke & telescope mirrors? Webb found complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years from Earth. This sets a new record for the most distant detection of these big, complicated molecules. The distant galaxy in question lies behind a much closer foreground galaxy. The gravity of the foreground galaxy is so great that it distorts and magnifies the light of the galaxy behind it, making it easier to see. In space, where there’s smoke, there are stars — usually. But this galaxy might change astronomers’ long-held belief: These “smoky molecules” were abundant in some areas with little star formation, or were scarce in some areas with active star birth. Due to how far light from this galaxy had to travel, we’re seeing this galaxy as it was back when the universe was < 1.5 billion years old. The discovery suggests that complex chemistry began occurring in the universe much earlier than we thought. Credit: J. Spilker/S. Doyle, NASA, ESA, CSA Astronomers using the Webb telescope discovered evidence of complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in the distant galaxy shown here. The galaxy, more than 12 billion light-years away, happens to line up almost perfectly with a second galaxy only three billion light-years away from our perspective on Earth. In this false-color Webb image, the foreground galaxy is shown in blue, while the background galaxy is in red. The organic molecules are highlighted in orange. The galaxy observed by Webb shows an Einstein ring caused by a phenomenon known as lensing, which occurs when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned from our perspective on Earth. The gravity from the galaxy in the foreground causes the light from the background galaxy to be distorted and magnified, like looking through the stem of a wine glass. Because they are magnified, lensing allows astronomers to study very distant galaxies in more detail than otherwise possible. Raw images More images from the article (unofficial)