A Glimpse Into the Universe's Ancient Past – The Dead Galaxy Discovered by JWST

Date: 2025-04-26 By-Graphicode India

Astronomers employing the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered a revolutionary discovery—an ancient galaxy called RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7, which ceased producing stars only 700 million years after the Big Bang. It is thus one of the most ancient and farthest "dead galaxies" to be seen.

Galaxies are also found to increase in size by creating new stars out of cold gas such as hydrogen. Some galaxies, though, go through a process of quenching when the formation of new stars stops because of the depletion of this gas—usually driven away by stellar winds, supernovae, or black hole energy. Galaxies thus become old and die if this gas is not available, containing only old stars.

Directed by a group at the University of Geneva, the discovery contradicts the prevailing assumption that in the early universe, there were only young, star-producing galaxies. The observations imply that some giant galaxies may have become mature and ceased their star-forming processes much sooner than previously thought.

This finding not only enriches our knowledge about cosmic evolution but also suggests that the cores of current massive elliptical galaxies could have already existed soon after the universe started. Equipment such as ALMA in Chile can be helpful for future studies into this enigma.

We at Graphicode India take inspiration from the might of data and technology—similar to the JWST, we too have faith in exploring potential by gazing deeper and thinking more.