JWST's Breakthrough in Understanding the Universe's Visibility

For centuries, the cosmos has remained shrouded in mystery due to the cosmic fog that blocked starlight from reaching us. With the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists have finally glimpsed the ancient galaxies that lifted this fog, revealing how the universe became transparent to light.

This groundbreaking discovery centers around the identification of numerous early, low-mass, rapidly star-forming galaxies, especially those emitting intense ultraviolet radiation. These galaxies, magnified by gravitational lensing from massive clusters like Abell 2744, are now understood to be the primary contributors to cosmic reionization—the process that ionized neutral atoms in the universe, allowing light to travel freely.

This insight reshapes our understanding of the cosmic dawn, highlighting the crucial role of common, faint galaxies in shaping the universe as we observe it today.