Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have captured a stunning image of a "cosmic jellyfish." This aquatic-creature-like galaxy, designated COSMOS2020-635829, was seen as it existed 8.5 billion years ago, or around 5.3 billion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers say it could paint a more detailed picture of the evolution of galaxies at a crucial period in the adolescent universe.
COSMOS2020-635829 is an example of a jellyfish galaxy, a class of galaxies that get their moniker from the fact that they possess trailing tendrils of gas that resemble the flexible, stinging appendages of their oceanic namesakes. For jellyfish galaxies, these trails are created as they 'swim' through their galaxy cluster homes against the flow of strong winds that push on them, forcing out gas, a process called "ram-stripping."
