The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the COSMOS-Web survey produced a new, detailed map of the cosmic web, tracing the network of filaments and sheets of dark matter and gas that link galaxies and surround vast voids. The map follows structure across 13.7 billion years and reaches back to when the universe was about one billion years old; the team can also see the web at epochs when the universe was only a few hundred million years old.
COSMOS-Web is the largest General Observer program selected for JWST and covers a contiguous patch of sky roughly the size of three full Moons. Since JWST's launch in 2021, its infrared instruments have revealed many previously invisible faint galaxies and allowed more precise distance measurements, so researchers can place each object into the correct time slice.
The work, published in The Astrophysical Journal, includes a released catalog of 164,000 galaxies and estimates of their cosmic density. The project also provides an evolving video of the web and public data tools. International collaborators contributed to the analysis, and the effort was supported by EU Horizon 2020 grants.
By making maps, the data pipeline and visual tools public, the team expects other researchers to study how galaxies form and evolve inside filaments and clusters across cosmic time.
Difficult words
- filament — long thin structure of matter in spacefilaments
- void — large region of space with few galaxiesvoids
- contiguous — touching or joined without interruption
- infrared — type of light with longer wavelengths than visible
- catalog — organized list of items or data
- density — amount of matter in a given volume
- pipeline — series of data processing steps
- epoch — particular time period in historyepochs
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How might public maps and data tools help other researchers study galaxy formation and evolution?
- What role do international collaborators and EU funding play in large astronomy projects like COSMOS-Web?
- What are possible benefits and drawbacks of releasing a large public catalog of galaxies for the scientific community?
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