🔭 Here is the largest map of the Universe. Its revelations are surprising!

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has just provided humanity with the most extensive view of the young Universe. This map, containing nearly 800,000 galaxies, challenges our models of the formation of the first cosmic structures.

Led by the international COSMOS collaboration, this project combines several years of observations to cover 98% of the Universe's history. The data, accessible to all via this site, reveal an unexpected abundance of galaxies and supermassive black holes in the early cosmic ages.

An unprecedented cosmic panorama

With unmatched resolution, JWST has scanned a region of the sky equivalent to three times the apparent size of the Moon. The resulting image, far larger than the famous Hubble Ultra Deep Field, reaches back 13.5 billion years into the past.

Astronomers sought to contextualize primordial galaxies within their environment. Contrary to expectations, galaxy-dense regions appear much earlier than predicted. This discovery suggests faster evolution than simulations had forecast.

JWST's infrared instruments have captured objects invisible to Hubble. Among them are compact galaxies and giant black holes, whose formation remains enigmatic. These observations may require revising theories about the assembly of the first structures.

Mysteries to solve

Cosmological models predicted a scarcity of galaxies in the first 500 million years after the Big Bang. Yet, JWST detects ten times more than expected. This abundance contradicts our understanding of early star formation processes.

The profusion of light produced so early in the Universe poses a physical problem. Stars and supermassive black holes appear to have reached improbable sizes in record time. Researchers are exploring alternative mechanisms, such as accelerated gravitational collapse.

The full data release aims to mobilize the global scientific community. Already, independent teams are analyzing these catalogs to track anomalies or identify unprecedented phenomena.