Aromatic molecules in a galaxy far, far away

False colour image

Source: © J Spilker/S Doyle/NASA/ESA/CSA

JWST IR observations suggest star formation was rapid and uneven in early galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has confirmed the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a galaxy more than 12 billion light years away. PAHs can be used as an indicator of star forming activity within a galaxy, and the data suggest that this early galaxy was forming new stars rapidly but not necessarily uniformly across the galaxy.