The James Webb telescope has discovered a galaxy where gas glows brighter than stars

This unique phenomenon challenges current models of star formation and expands our understanding of the early Universe.

The galaxy GS-NDG-9422 is so far away that we see it in the state it was 12.5 billion years ago, when the Universe was about a billion years old. It does not stand out externally, but its spectral analysis, carried out for the first time, has revealed surprising features.

The study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, found that the glow of the galaxy's gas is due to the presence of super-hot and massive stars. These stars heat the surrounding gas clouds to temperatures exceeding 80,000 degrees Celsius, twice that of typical hot stars. As a result, the gas emits light brighter than the stars themselves.

The discovery of such a galaxy challenges current models of star formation. GS-NDG-9422 may serve as the "missing link" between the first stars of the Universe and ancient formed galaxies. The predominance of superhot stars suggests a special initial stellar composition, with more massive stars forming than standard models predict.

Scientists have considered other hypotheses. One of them is the absorption of light by a massive cloud of neutral hydrogen, creating the effect of a sharp drop in the spectrum. However, this requires a cloud with an incredibly high density, which is unlikely.

Another hypothesis suggested that we are only observing the glow of the gas, and the stars that ionise it are either out of sight or have already gone out. But given the short lifespan of such stars (hundreds to thousands of years), this option is also unlikely.

The most convincing explanation is the presence of super-hot and massive stars in the galaxy, heating the gas to an extraordinary brightness.