Rewinding Cosmic Time With Webb’s Discovery of a 13-Billion-Year-Old Dead Galaxy

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope found an ancient galaxy with halted star formation, raising questions about galaxy life cycles.

A galaxy that suddenly stopped forming new stars more than 13 billion years ago has been observed by astronomers.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge and involving LJMU, have spotted a ‘dead’ galaxy when the universe was just 700 million years old, the oldest such galaxy ever observed.

Early Universe Phenomena
This galaxy appears to have lived fast and died young: star formation happened quickly and stopped almost as quickly, which is unexpected for so early in the universe’s evolution. However, it is unclear whether this galaxy’s ‘quenched’ state is temporary or permanent, and what caused it to stop forming new stars.