Astronomers Grapple with JWST's Discovery of Early Galaxies

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December 08, 2022

Dear Reader, Our lead story this week revisits the curious case of anomalously big and bright galaxies glimpsed in the early universe by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). These bizarre objects were so different from expectations set by prevailing cosmological models that some researchers questioned their validity. Now having survived considerable follow-up scrutiny, JWST's newfound weird galaxies seem to be genuine. But their potentially epochal implications for our understanding of cosmic history remain unclear. Elsewhere this week, we have stories on the construction of the world's most powerful radio telescope, an astronomical debate over data-sharing, and year-end reflections on the significance of spaceflight. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Cosmology Astronomers Grapple with JWST's Discovery of Early Galaxies Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they're trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Astronomy NASA's Plan to Make JWST Data Immediately Available Will Hurt Astronomy By releasing astronomers' data before they've had a chance to analyze the information, NASA will make research less fair and equitable By Jason Wright

Space Exploration Keep Looking Up As a dismal year on Earth draws to a close, milestones in space exploration offer much for the whole world to celebrate By The Editors

Astronomy Construction of World's Largest Radio Observatory Is Finally Under Way Two giant telescopes—one in Australia, the other in South Africa—will comprise the supersensitive Square Kilometer Array By Sarah Wild,Nature magazine

Astronomy Milky Way Census Shows Stars Take Varied Paths The Gaia satellite is making the most detailed and complete map of the stars in our galaxy By Clara Moskowitz,Nadieh Bremer

Ecology How the Moon Devastated a Mangrove Forest In 2015 the moon's wobble and an El Niño teamed up to kill off tens of millions of Australian mangroves By Joanna Thompson

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 31, Issue 6s

QUOTE OF THE DAY "We have a problem, and it's real: Where the hell did these bright things come from? They weren't in the storybook. We really have to understand what's going on here." Garth Illingworth, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on an unexpected population of galaxies spied by the James Webb Space Telescope

FROM THE ARCHIVE The First Milky Way Black Hole Image Lets Scientists Test Physics The first image of the behemoth at the center of our galaxy opens new avenues for understanding the nature of black holes By Seth Fletcher | September 2022

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