‘A cosmic crime scene’: How James Webb uncovered the death of a galaxy in its prime
Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Galactic Foundations
Galaxies, vast cosmic cities of stars, formed actively in the universe’s early years, shaping the structure of space as we know it.
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Sudden Silence
Some galaxies mysteriously stopped growing just 1 billion years after the Big Bang, halting their star formation far earlier than expected.
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Webb’s Discovery
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, Prof. Wu Po-Feng identified a quiescent galaxy 12 billion light-years away, offering new clues.
Rapid Shutdown
Spectroscopic data revealed that this galaxy’s star formation rate collapsed dramatically, ceasing its growth in an astoundingly short period.
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Gas Ejections
Astronomers detected gas being expelled at speeds of over 200 km/s, stripping the galaxy of the raw materials needed to birth new stars.
Black Hole Link
A supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center may be the engine behind these violent outflows, blasting away its potential for future growth.
Cosmic Clues
This galaxy, the farthest known of its kind, provides crucial evidence about why some galaxies die young, reshaping theories of cosmic evolution.
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Unraveling Fate
Prof. Wu plans further studies to determine if this lost gas could return and reignite star formation—or if it’s permanently gone, sealing the galaxy’s fate.
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New Perspectives
With Webb’s unprecedented sensitivity, astronomers are not just observing the past but uncovering the forces that sculpt the universe’s very structure.
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