‘A history of receding horizons’

EARLY GALAXIES HIDDEN FROM HUBBLE

Nasa’s Webb Space Telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now were hidden from view, including one that may have formed a mere 350 million years after the cosmic-creating Big Bang. Astronomers said on Thursday that if the results are verified, this newly discovered throng of stars would beat the most distant galaxy identified by the Hubble Space Telescope, a record-holder that formed 400 million years after the universe began. Launched last December as a successor to Hubble, the Webb telescope is indicating stars may have formed sooner than previously thought — perhaps within a couple million years of creation.

AGENCIES (Left) One of two farthest galaxies seen to date of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744; (above) a protostar within the dark cloud L1527 embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth, both taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.