A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the centre of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly coloured, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered star clusters in the "Cosmic Gems" arc that existed just 460 million years after the Big Bang. This marks the first discovery of star clusters in an infant galaxy, seen as it was when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was less than 500 million years old.
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
