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White diamonds show the locations of 20 of the 83 young, low-mass, starburst galaxies found in infrared images of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Full image and description shown below. Credits:
NASA/ESA/CSA/Bezanson et al. 2024 and Wold et al. 2025 Astronomers using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have identified dozens of small galaxies that played a starring role in a cosmic makeover that transformed the early universe into the one we know today.
“When it comes to producing ultraviolet light, these small galaxies punch well above their weight,” said Isak Wold, an assistant research scientist at Catholic University of America in Washington and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Our analysis of these tiny but mighty galaxies is 10 times more sensitive than previous studies, and shows they existed in sufficient numbers and packed enough ultraviolet power to drive this cosmic renovation.”
Wold discussed his findings Wednesday at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, Alaska. The study took advantage of existing imaging collected by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument, as well as new observations made with its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument.
Image A: Webb search finds dozens of tiny, young star-forming galaxies
Symbols mark the locations of young, low-mass galaxies bursting with new stars when the universe was about 800 million years old. Using a filter sensitive to such galaxies, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope imaged them with the help of a natural gravitational lens created by the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744. In all, 83 young galaxies were found, but only the 20 shown here (white diamonds) were selected for deeper study. The inset zooms into one of the galaxies.
Download high-resolution images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio NASA/ESA/CSA/Bezanson et al. 2024 and Wold et al. 2025 The tiny galaxies were discovered by Wold and his Goddard colleagues, Sangeeta Malhotra and James Rhoads, by sifting through Webb images captured as part of the UNCOVER (Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization) observing program, led by Rachel Bezanson at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
The project mapped a giant galaxy cluster known as Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora’s cluster, located about 4 billion light-years away in the southern constellation Sculptor. The cluster’s mass forms a gravitational lens that magnifies distant sources, adding to Webb’s already considerable reach.
Image B: Galaxy cluster helps reveal young, low-mass galaxies bursting with stars
White diamonds show the locations of 20 of the 83 young, low-mass, starburst galaxies found in infrared images of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. This composite incorporates images taken through three NIRCam filters (F200W as blue, F410M as green, and F444W as red). The F410M filter is highly sensitive to light emitted by doubly ionized oxygen — oxygen atoms that have been stripped of two electrons — at a time when reionization was well underway. Emitted as green light, the glow was stretched into the infrared as it traversed the expanding universe over billions of years. The cluster’s mass acts as a natural magnifying glass, allowing astronomers to see these tiny galaxies as they were when the universe was about 800 million years old. NASA/ESA/CSA/Bezanson et al. 2024 and Wold et al. 2025 For much of its first billion years, the universe was immersed in a fog of neutral hydrogen gas. Today, this gas is ionized — stripped of its electrons. Astronomers, who refer to this transformation as reionization, have long wondered which types of objects were most responsible: big galaxies, small galaxies, or supermassive black holes in active galaxies. As one of its main goals, NASA’s Webb was specifically designed to address key questions about this major transition in the history of the universe.
Recent studies have shown that small galaxies undergoing vigorous star formation could have played an outsized role. Such galaxies are rare today, making up only about 1% of those around us. But they were abundant when the universe was about 800 million years old, an epoch astronomers refer to as redshift 7, when reionization was well underway.
The team searched for small galaxies of the right cosmic age that showed signs of extreme star formation, called starbursts, in NIRCam images of the cluster.
“Low-mass galaxies gather less neutral hydrogen gas around them, which makes it easier for ionizing ultraviolet light to escape,” Rhoads said. “Likewise, starburst episodes not only produce plentiful ultraviolet light — they also carve channels into a galaxy’s interstellar matter that helps this light break out.”
Image C: A deeper look into small, young, star-forming galaxies during reionization
At left is an enlarged infrared view of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 with three young, star-forming galaxies highlighted by green diamonds. The center column shows close-ups of each galaxy, along with their designations, the amount of magnification provided by the cluster’s gravitational lens, their redshifts (shown as z — all correspond to a cosmic age of about 790 million years), and their estimated mass of stars. At right, measurements from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRSpec instrument confirm that the galaxies produce strong emission in the light of doubly ionized oxygen (green bars), indicating vigorous star formation is taking place. NASA/ESA/CSA/Bezanson et al. 2024 and Wold et al. 2025 The astronomers looked for strong sources of a specific wavelength of light that signifies the presence of high-energy processes: a green line emitted by oxygen atoms that have lost two electrons. Originally emitted as visible light in the early cosmos, the green glow from doubly ionized oxygen was stretched into the infrared as it traversed the expanding universe and eventually reached Webb’s instruments.
This technique revealed 83 small starburst galaxies as they appear when the universe was 800 million years old, or about 6% of its current age of 13.8 billion years. The team selected 20 of these for deeper inspection using NIRSpec.
“These galaxies are so small that, to build the equivalent stellar mass of our own Milky Way galaxy, you’d need from 2,000 to 200,000 of them,” Malhotra said. “But we are able to detect them because of our novel sample selection technique combined with gravitational lensing.”
Image D: Tiny but mighty galaxy helped clear cosmic fog
One of the most interesting galaxies of the study, dubbed 41028 (the green oval at center), has an estimated stellar mass of just 2 million Suns — comparable to the masses of the largest star clusters in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA/ESA/CSA/Bezanson et al. 2024 and Wold et al. 2025 Similar types of galaxies in the present-day universe, such as green peas, release about 25% of their ionizing ultraviolet light into surrounding space. If the low-mass starburst galaxies explored by Wold and his team release a similar amount, they can account for all of the ultraviolet light needed to convert the universe’s neutral hydrogen to its ionized form.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
By Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Presenters and NASA Glenn Research Center’s Silver Snoopy Award recipients at the center on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Left to right: Deputy Center Director Dawn Schaible, Ron Johns, Joshua Finkbeiner, Rula Coroneos, Tyler Hickman, and astronaut Randy Bresnik. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Four of NASA Glenn Research Center’s employees have received the coveted NASA Silver Snoopy Award. This award, overseen by NASA’s Space Flight Awareness program, is a special honor given to NASA employees and contractors for their outstanding achievements related to flight safety and mission success. It is the astronauts’ personal award to recognize excellence and is given to less than 1% of the workforce annually.
Deputy Center Director Dawn Schaible, joined by astronaut Randy Bresnik, presented the awards at the center in Cleveland on May 14. Bresnik was part of a crew in 2009 that delivered 30,000 pounds of essential parts and equipment to the International Space Station. He served as the commander of the space station for Expedition 53 and flight engineer for Expedition 52.
The recipients include Rula Coroneos, Joshua Finkbeiner, Tyler Hickman, and Ron Johns. Each of the honorees has played a crucial role in supporting the Artemis campaign, which will explore the Moon and prepare for human missions to Mars. The award recipients have made significant contributions to the success of the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module and have been dedicated to the safety and success of Artemis I and upcoming Artemis missions.
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Explore Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 6 Min Read Frigid Exoplanet in Strange Orbit Imaged by NASA’s Webb
This image of exoplanet 14 Herculis c was taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). A star symbol marks the location of the host star 14 Herculis, whose light has been blocked by a coronagraph on NIRCam (shown here as a dark circle outlined in white). Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), D. Bardalez Gagliuffi (Amherst College) A planetary system described as abnormal, chaotic, and strange by researchers has come into clearer view with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Using Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), researchers have successfully imaged one of two known planets surrounding the star 14 Herculis, located 60 light-years away from Earth in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The exoplanet, 14 Herculis c, is one of the coldest imaged to date. While there are nearly 6,000 exoplanets that have been discovered, only a small number of those have been directly imaged, most of those being very hot (think hundreds or even thousands of degrees Fahrenheit). The new data suggests 14 Herculis c, which weighs about 7 times the planet Jupiter, is as cool as 26 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3 degrees Celsius).
Image: 14 Herculis c (NIRCam)
This image of exoplanet 14 Herculis c was taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). A star symbol marks the location of the host star 14 Herculis, whose light has been blocked by a coronagraph on NIRCam (shown here as a dark circle outlined in white). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), D. Bardalez Gagliuffi (Amherst College) The team’s results covering 14 Herculis c have been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters and were presented in a press conference Tuesday at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, Alaska.
“The colder an exoplanet, the harder it is to image, so this is a totally new regime of study that Webb has unlocked with its extreme sensitivity in the infrared,” said William Balmer, co-first author of the new paper and graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. “We are now able to add to the catalog of not just hot, young exoplanets imaged, but older exoplanets that are far colder than we’ve directly seen before Webb.”
Webb’s image of 14 Herculis c also provides insights into a planetary system unlike most others studied in detail with Webb and other ground- and space-based `observatories. The central star, 14 Herculis, is almost Sun-like – it is similar in age and temperature to our own Sun, but a little less massive and cooler.
There are two planets in this system – 14 Herculis b is closer to the star, and covered by the coronagraphic mask in the Webb image. These planets don’t orbit each other on the same plane like our solar system. Instead, they cross each other like an ‘X’, with the star being at the center. That is, the orbital planes of the two planets are inclined relative to one another at an angle of about 40 degrees. The planets tug and pull at one another as they orbit the star.
This is the first time an image has ever been snapped of an exoplanet in such a mis-aligned system.
Scientists are working on several theories for just how the planets in this system got so “off track.” One of the leading concepts is that the planets scattered after a third planet was violently ejected from the system early in its formation.
“The early evolution of our own solar system was dominated by the movement and pull of our own gas giants,” added Balmer. “They threw around asteroids and rearranged other planets. Here, we are seeing the aftermath of a more violent planetary crime scene. It reminds us that something similar could have happened to our own solar system, and that the outcomes for small planets like Earth are often dictated by much larger forces.”
Understanding the Planet’s Characteristics With Webb
Webb’s new data is giving researchers further insights into not just the temperature of 14 Herculis c, but other details about the planet’s orbit and atmosphere.
Findings indicate the planet orbits around 1.4 billion miles from the host star in a highly elliptical, or football-shaped orbit, closer in than previous estimates. This is around 15 times farther from the Sun than Earth. On average, this would put 14 Herculis c between Saturn and Uranus in our solar system.
The planet’s brightness at 4.4 microns measured using Webb’s coronagraph, combined with the known mass of the planet and age of the system, hints at some complex atmospheric dynamics at play.
“If a planet of a certain mass formed 4 billion years ago, then cooled over time because it doesn’t have a source of energy keeping it warm, we can predict how hot it should be today,” said Daniella C. Bardalez Gagliuffi of Amherst College, co-first author on the paper with Balmer. “Added information, like the perceived brightness in direct imaging, would in theory support this estimate of the planet’s temperature.”
However, what researchers expect isn’t always reflected in the results. With 14 Herculis c, the brightness at this wavelength is fainter than expected for an object of this mass and age. The research team can explain this discrepancy, though. It’s called carbon disequilibrium chemistry, something often seen in brown dwarfs.
“This exoplanet is so cold, the best comparisons we have that are well-studied are the coldest brown dwarfs,” Bardalez Gagliuffi explained. “In those objects, like with 14 Herculis c, we see carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide existing at temperatures where we should see methane. This is explained by churning in the atmosphere. Molecules made at warmer temperatures in the lower atmosphere are brought to the cold, upper atmosphere very quickly.”
Researchers hope Webb’s image of 14 Herculis c is just the beginning of a new phase of investigation into this strange system.
While the small dot of light obtained by Webb contains a plethora of information, future spectroscopic studies of 14 Herculis could better constrain the atmospheric properties of this interesting planet and help researchers understand the dynamics and formation pathways of the system.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
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Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
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Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
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Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
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By NASA
Expedition 71 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps poses for a portrait inside the seven-window cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world,” while orbiting 259 miles above Greece.NASA NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps retired May 30, after nearly 16 years of service with the agency. Epps most recently served as a mission specialist during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission, spending 235 days in space, including 232 days aboard the International Space Station, working on hundreds of scientific experiments during Expedition 71/72.
“I have had the distinct pleasure of following Jeanette’s journey here at NASA from the very beginning,” said Steve Koerner, acting director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Jeanette’s tenacity and dedication to mission excellence is admirable. Her contributions to the advancement of human space exploration will continue to benefit humanity and inspire the next generation of explorers for several years to come.”
Epps was selected in 2009 as a member of NASA’s 20th astronaut class. In addition to her spaceflight, she served as a lead capsule communicator, or capcom, in NASA’s Mission Control Center and as a crew support astronaut for two space station expeditions.
“Ever since Jeanette joined the astronaut corps, she has met every challenge with resilience and determination,” said Joe Acaba, NASA’s chief astronaut. “We will miss her greatly, but I know she’s going to continue to do great things.”
Epps also participated in NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation) off the coast of Florida, conducted geologic studies in Hawaii, and served as a representative to the Generic Joint Operations Panel, which addressed crew efficiency aboard the space station.
The Syracuse, New York, native holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Le Moyne College in Syracuse. She also earned master’s and doctorate degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park. During her graduate studies, she became a NASA Fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles about her research. Epps also received a provisional patent and a U.S. patent prior to her role at NASA.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
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Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
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By NASA
NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) are collaborating to launch scientific investigations aboard Axiom Mission 4, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. These studies include examining muscle regeneration, growth of sprouts and edible microalgae, survival of tiny aquatic organisms, and human interaction with electronic displays in microgravity.
The mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Tuesday, June 10, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Regenerating muscle tissue
Immunofluorescent image of human muscle fibers for Myogenesis-ISRO, showing nuclei (blue) and proteins (red).Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, India During long-duration spaceflights, astronauts lose muscle mass, and their muscle cells’ regenerative ability declines. Researchers suspect this may happen because microgravity interferes with metabolism in mitochondria, tiny structures within cells that produce energy. The Myogenesis-ISRO investigation uses muscle stem cell cultures to examine the muscle repair process and test chemicals known to support mitochondrial function. Results could lead to interventions that maintain muscle health during long-duration space missions, help people on Earth with age-related muscle loss and muscle-wasting diseases, and assist athletes and people recovering from surgery.
Sprouting seeds
This preflight image shows sprouted fenugreek seeds for the Sprouts-ISRO investigation.Ravikumar Hosamani Lab, University of Agricultural Sciences, India The Sprouts-ISRO investigation looks at the germination and growth in microgravity of seeds from greengram and fenugreek, nutritious plants commonly eaten on the Indian subcontinent. Bioactive compounds in fenugreek seeds also have therapeutic properties, and the leaves contain essential vitamins and minerals. Learning more about how space affects the genetics, nutritional content, and other characteristics over multiple generations of plants could inform the development of ways for future missions to reliably produce plants as a food source.
Microalgae growth
Culture bags for Space Microalgae-ISRO.Redwire Space Microalgae-ISRO studies how microgravity affects microalgae growth and genetics. Highly digestible microalgae species packed with nutrients could be a food source on future space missions. These organisms also grow quickly, produce energy and oxygen, and consume carbon dioxide, traits that could be employed in life support and fuel systems on spacecraft and in certain scenarios on Earth.
Tiny but tough
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson sets up the BioServe microscope, which will be used by the Voyager Tardigrade-ISRO investigation.NASA Tardigrades are tiny aquatic organisms that can tolerate extreme conditions on Earth. Voyager Tardigrade-ISRO tests the survival of a strain of tardigrades in the harsh conditions of space, including cosmic radiation and ultra-low temperatures, which kill most life forms. Researchers plan to revive dormant tardigrades, count the number of eggs laid and hatched during the mission, and compare the gene expression patterns of populations in space and on the ground. Results could help identify what makes these organisms able to survive extreme conditions and support development of technology to protect astronauts on future missions and those in harsh environments on Earth.
Improving electronic interactions
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara interacts with a touchscreen. Voyager Displays-ISRO examines how spaceflight affects use of such devices.NASA Research shows that humans interact with touchscreen devices differently in space. Voyager Displays – ISRO examines how spaceflight affects interactions with electronic displays such as pointing tasks, gaze fixation, and rapid eye movements along with how these interactions affect the user’s feelings of stress or wellbeing. Results could support improved design of control devices for spacecraft and habitats on future space missions as well as for aviation and other uses on Earth.
Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research mentioned in this article.
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