NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has offered astronomers with remarkable new insights into the early cosmos thanks to comprehensive imaging of the quasar PJ308–21.
The new images show the quasar's spectrum and host galaxy as it might have appeared when the universe was less than a billion years old.
New picture of quasar PJ308–21 from Webb's NIRSpec sensor shows its spectra with less than 1% per pixel uncertainty despite its great distance.
Webb found photoionization in the quasar's host and satellite galaxies.
One satellite galaxy had low metallicity, while another had higher metallicity and partial photoionization from the nearby quasar.
The discovery allowed researchers to estimate the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of the quasar system, which is currently close to 2 billion solar masses.
The neighboring galaxies of quasar PJ308–21 appear to be highly developed and growing in mass and metal enrichment.
The latest discoveries by Webb help astrophysicists comprehend the history of our cosmos and how galaxies evolve.