The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured a breathtaking new deep field image of the galaxy cluster Abell S1063, surpassing Hubble’s previous view in both depth and detail. Abell S1063, located 4.5 billion light-years away in the constellation Grus the Crane, acts as a gravitational lens. This massive cluster bends and focuses the light from galaxies lying far behind it, revealing some of the earliest galaxies in the universe.
Hubble’s 2016 deep field image of Abell S1063 first explored the cluster’s gravitational lensing effect, exposing warped arcs of light, distant galaxies that would otherwise remain hidden to astronomers. Now, JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) brings these ancient galaxies into sharper focus, uncovering a larger number of distant galaxies from the early universe and other previously unseen features.
This remarkable image didn’t come easily. Unlike typical astronomical images, which already need long exposures, deep field images demand even more time, gathering as much light as possible to reveal the faintest objects in the universe. JWST’s image of Abell S1063 combined nine snapshots at different infrared wavelengths, totaling around 120 hours of observing time — JWST’s deepest gaze yet on a single target.
Studying these primordial galaxies provides a window into how the first structures in the universe formed. By peering through the magnifying glass of Abell S1063, astronomers hope to piece together the story of how the earliest galaxies emerged, evolved, and ultimately gave rise to galaxies like our own Milky Way.
Want to find out more? You can see more JWST deep-field images here and compare other images from Hubble and JWST here.
