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ASPIRE Cosmic Filament (NIRCam Image)

Image shows a black field speckled with a variety of galaxies of numerous shapes and sizes. The galaxies are white, yellow, blue and red. Red is the predominant galaxy color in the field, indicating very distant galaxies. Eight white circles mark the position of 10 galaxies (two circles contain more than one galaxy). The 10 galaxies are arranged in a diagonal, thread-like line from the bottom left to the top right. This 3-million-light-year-long filament is anchored by a very distant and luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The quasar, called J0305-3150, appears in the middle of the cluster of three circles on the right side of the image. Its brightness outshines its host galaxy.

This deep galaxy field from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) shows an arrangement of 10 distant galaxies marked by eight white circles in a diagonal, thread-like line. (Two of the circles contain more than one galaxy.) This 3 million light-year-long filament is anchored by a very distant and luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The quasar, called J0305-3150, appears in the middle of the cluster of three circles on the right side of the image. Its brightness outshines its host galaxy. The 10 marked galaxies existed just 830 million years after the big bang. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03:05:17
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -31:51:56
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Fornax
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 2.3 arcmin across

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 2078 (F. Wang)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    August 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F115W, F200W, F356W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    ASPIRE, J0305-3150
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Galaxies at high redshift
  • Release Date
    June 29, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Identifies the Earliest Strands of the Cosmic Web
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Feige Wang (University of Arizona); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Annotated, Full Res (For Display), 4535 × 4066
    png (25.8 MB)
  • Annotated, Full Res (For Print), 4535 × 4066
    tif (32.34 MB)
  • Annotated, 2000 × 1793
    png (4.87 MB)
  • Unannotated, Full Res (For Display), 4535 × 4066
    png (25.76 MB)
  • Unannotated, Full Res (For Print), 4535 × 4066
    tif (32.33 MB)
  • Unannotated, 2000 × 1793
    png (4.86 MB)
  • NIRCam Modules A&B, Full Res (For Display), 10247 × 4196
    png (52.07 MB)
  • NIRCam Modules A&B, Full Res (For Print), 10247 × 4196
    tif (66.35 MB)
  • NIRCam Modules A&B, 2000 × 819
    png (1.7 MB)
Image shows a black field speckled with a variety of galaxies of numerous shapes and sizes. The galaxies are white, yellow, blue and red. Red is the predominant galaxy color in the field, indicating very distant galaxies. Eight white circles mark the position of 10 galaxies (two circles contain more than one galaxy). The 10 galaxies are arranged in a diagonal, thread-like line from the bottom left to the top right. This 3-million-light-year-long filament is anchored by a very distant and luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The quasar, called J0305-3150, appears in the middle of the cluster of three circles on the right side of the image. Its brightness outshines its host galaxy.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F115W Green: F200W Red: F356W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope, ASPIRE, J0305-3150.” Graphic elements added to image are compass arrows and color key. Image shows a black field speckled with a variety of galaxies of numerous shapes and sizes. The galaxies are white, yellow, blue and red. Red is the predominant galaxy color in the field, indicating very distant galaxies. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points slightly below the 9 o'clock direction. The east arrow points slightly above the 6 o’clock position. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F115W is blue, F200W is green, F356W is red.

ASPIRE Cosmic Filament (NIRCam Compass Image)

This compass image shows a deep galaxy field imaged by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the ASPIRE program. The field includes a quasar, called J0305-3150, whose brightness outshines its host galaxy. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, Feige Wang (University of Arizona)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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