Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website.

Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Galaxy Protocluster (NIRCam Image)

Telescope image with infographic overlays. Wide view of many galaxies colored orange, red and white. Most white galaxies have a hazy halo. A grouping of larger white galaxies appears below center. In the top half of the image, five small white squares highlight galaxies that would not stand out otherwise, with lines radiating from the small squares to a stacked column of five squares along the entire right side of the image, providing a zoomed-in view of specific galaxies, all appearing red.

The seven galaxies highlighted in this James Webb Space Telescope image have been confirmed to be at a distance that astronomers refer to as redshift 7.9, which correlates to 650 million years after the big bang. This makes them the earliest galaxies yet to be spectroscopically confirmed as part of a developing cluster. 

Astronomers used the telescope’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument to precisely measure the distances and determine that the galaxies are part of a developing cluster. Galaxy YD4, previously estimated to be at a further distance based on imaging data alone, was able to be more accurately placed at the same redshift as the other galaxies. Before Webb, astronomers did not have high resolution imaging or spectral infrared data available to do this type of science. 

At extreme distances, astronomers use the redshift reference to account for the fact that, as the universe expands, wavelengths of light are stretched and “shifted” to redder wavelengths, which are longer. Shorter wavelengths, for example ultraviolet and X-ray, are toward the bluer end of the electromagnetic spectrum. So extreme distances in the early universe are referenced by how much the light emitted there has been shifted as it traveled through space to be detected by a telescope. 

 

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    00:14:18.25
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -30:22:46.04
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Sculptor
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    3.5 billion light-years to main cluster

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: 2561 (I. Labbe).

  • 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.
    2 Nov 2022, 15 Nov 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F444W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Galaxy Cluster and Gravitational Lens
  • Release Date
    April 24, 2023
  • Science Release
    Webb Reveals Early-Universe Prequel to Huge Galaxy Cluster
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Takahiro Morishita (Caltech/IPAC); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Print), 11319 × 12083
    tif (91.14 MB)
  • Full Res (For Display), 11319 × 12083
    png (86.2 MB)
  • 1874 × 2000
    png (3.26 MB)
Telescope image with infographic overlays. Wide view of many galaxies colored orange, red and white. Most white galaxies have a hazy halo. A grouping of larger white galaxies appears below center. In the top half of the image, five small white squares highlight galaxies that would not stand out otherwise, with lines radiating from the small squares to a stacked column of five squares along the entire right side of the image, providing a zoomed-in view of specific galaxies, all appearing red.
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 specific 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+F150W, Green: F200W+F277W, Red: F356W+F444W

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

Telescope image of many galaxies, with infographic overlays. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 1 o’clock direction. The east arrow points toward 10 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 15 arc seconds. Below the image is a color key showing which Near-Infrared Camera filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, filters are: F115W, blue. F150W, blue. F200W, green. F277W, green. F356W, red. F444W, red.

Galaxy Protocluster (NIRCam Compass Image)

Image of a distant galaxy protocluster in the early universe, captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on...

Share

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, Takahiro Morishita (Caltech/IPAC)

Image Processing Credit

Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

Space Telescope

Science Overview

Webb Observatory

Webb Image Galleries