Astronomers at the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have released a stunning new image of galaxy cluster Abell S1063. Located 4.5 billion light-years from Earth, this massive collection of galaxies is being warped by its gravity, bending and brightening the light from nearby super-distant ancient galaxies.
The gravitational lensing effect is allowing scientists to study some of the oldest known galaxies in the universe, including MoM-z14, which formed just 280 million years after the Big Bang. By precisely untangling the distortions caused by Abell S1063’s gravity, researchers can gain insights into these far-off galaxies that would otherwise be too faint to observe.
The new image is a “deep field” picture taken over 120 hours using Webb’s NIRCam instrument across various near-infrared wavelengths. It showcases a diverse range of galaxies, some of which have never been seen before by humans. This latest release from the James Webb Space Telescope is not only its most distant view of a single target but also one of its most spectacular images yet.
Source: https://petapixel.com/2025/06/01/webb-captures-a-cosmic-forest-of-ancient-galaxies