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Observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are upending the understanding of the early universe, indicating the presence of large and mature but remarkably compact galaxies teeming with stars far sooner than scientists had considered possible.

Astronomers said data obtained by the telescope reveals what appear to be six big galaxies as mature as our Milky Way existing about 540 million to 770 million years after the explosive Big Bang that kicked off the universe 13.8 billion years ago. The universe was roughly 3 percent of its current age at the time.

These galaxies, one of which appears to have a mass rivaling our Milky Way but 30 times more densely packed, seem to differ in fundamental ways from those populating the universe today.

“Oh, they are radically different — truly bizarre creatures,” said astrophysicist Ivo Labbe of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. “If the Milky Way were a regular-sized average adult, say about 5 feet, 9 inch (1.75 meters) and 160 pounds (70 kg), these would be 1-year-old babies weighing about the same but standing just under 3 inches (7 cm) tall. The early universe is a freak show.”

Webb was launched in 2021 and began collecting data last year. The findings were based upon the first dataset released by NASA last July from Webb, a telescope boasting infrared-sensing instruments able to detect light from the most ancient stars and galaxies.

“This is an astounding discovery and unexpected. We thought that galaxies form over much longer periods of time,” said Penn State astrophysicist and study co-author Joel Leja. “No one expected to find these. These galaxy candidates are simply too evolved for our expectations. They seem to have evolved faster than allowed by our standard models.”

Leja called them galaxy candidates because further observations are needed to confirm that they all are galaxies rather than some other source of light like a supermassive black hole.

“The exciting part is that even if only some turn out to be massive galaxies, these things are so massive that they alone would upend our measurements of the total mass in stars at this time. It would suggest 10 to 100 times more mass in stars existing at this epoch than expected and would imply that galaxies form way, way faster in the universe than anyone thought.”

The galaxies appear to contain mass equivalent to 10 billion to 100 billion times that of our sun. The latter figure is similar to the Milky Way’s mass.

The journey to galaxy formation following the Big Bang apparently hinged on mysterious material called dark matter that is invisible to us but is known to exist because of the gravitational influence it exerts on normal matter.

“The leading theory is that an ocean of dark matter filled the early universe after the Big Bang,” Labbe said.

“This dark matter — we don’t know what it is actually is — started out really smooth, with only the tiniest of ripples. These ripples grew over time due to gravity and eventually the dark matter started to collect in concentrated clumps, dragging hydrogen gas along for the ride. It’s that hydrogen gas that will eventually turn into stars. Clumps of dark matter, gas and stars is what we call a galaxy,” Labbe added.

Astronomers suspect the first stars began forming 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang, each perhaps 1,000 more massive than our sun but much shorter-lived.

“Their explosion set off the chain of events that formed subsequent generations of stars,” Labbe said.

“Webb continuous to amaze and surprise us,” Labbe added. “So yes, the early universe was a lot richer and lot more diverse — monsters and dragons. And the curtain is still being lifted.”

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Japan Launches Final H-2A Rocket with GOSAT-GW Satellite to Monitor Climate and Oceans

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July 1, 2025

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Japan Launches Final H-2A Rocket with GOSAT-GW Satellite to Monitor Climate and Oceans

Japan launched a satellite which is a dual purpose, for monitoring greenhouse gases and sea temperature. On Saturday, June 28, 2025, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) held its 50th and final launch of the H-2A rocket, launching the GOSAT-GW satellite of dual purpose to space. This mission lifted off from Ypshinobu Launch Complex (LP-1) in Japan at Tenegashima Space Centre at 10:03 p.m. IST. These satellites have been sent by Japan to observe the changes in water cycles and greenhouse gases.

JAXA’s Dual Purpose Satellite Launch

According to JAXA, the Greenhouse Gas and Water Cycle Observation Satellite (GOSA-GW) is a very recent and significant effort of Japan to know about the effect of greenhouse gases and the changes in the cycle of rain. GOSAT-GW has joined the orbit of Earth with GCOM-W2, which is its predecessor, and was launched in 2012, known as SHIZUKU, whereas GOSAT-1, launched in 2009, is known as IBUKI. It is equipped with two main instruments.

More About GOSAT-GW

GOSAT-GW is equipped with two main instruments, the first is called the Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMSR), and the other is known as the Greenhouse Gases Observation Sensor (TANSO). The former one will measure water cycles and sea surface temperature fluctuations, while the latter one is for monitoring components such as carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere for measuring climate change.

H-2A rocket of Japan has been capable of launching payloads into the geostationary orbit around Earth and also orbiting the Moon. JAXA also launched the Akatsuki spacecraft for studying Venus in 2010; however, the spacecraft failed to enter the orbit of Venus properly.

Japan’s Successful Launch Operations

JAXA launched H-2A for the first time in 2001. With its 25 years in operation, the rocket experienced only a single failure, giving the spacecraft a 98% success rate. After 50 missions, the launch vehicle is now being retired to make way for the H3 rocket of Japan, offering comparable performance at a very reasonable cost.

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SpaceX Launches 53 Starlink Satellites in One Day, Crossing 7,900 Active Units

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July 1, 2025

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SpaceX Launches 53 Starlink Satellites in One Day, Crossing 7,900 Active Units

On June 28, 2025, two Falcon 9 rockets carrying the internet satellite broadband connection lifted off at 12:26 a.m. and 1:13 p.m. EDT. The first one was launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and another from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The new addons for megaconsellation of SpaceX (Group 10-34 and Group 15-7) reached low orbit Earth about 9 minutes after leaving the ground and were deployed after an hour.

According to As per NASA, in the intervening time, the first stage of the Falcon rockets (boosters B1092 and B1088) flew back to the droneships. The landing was on “A Shortfall of Gravitas, “ completing the fifth flight of the boosters. The stage touched down on “Of Course I Still Love You”, with its eighth flight to space and back, in the Pacific Ocean.

The launch at early morning carries 27 Starlink Satellites and the afternoon liftoff lofted 26 more of the relay satellites, vasting the network of SpaceX to more than 7,900 active units, said by satellite tracker Jonathan Mc Dowell.

Broader Deployment Context

The launch in the morning was delayed earlier that day because of the severe weather alerts at Florida, but flew in the near perfect conditions at the visibility of 10 miles. Throughout 2025, SpaceX heald 42 Falcon 9 missions with 28 Starlink launched by June. by mid-June the batch of 26 satellites launched from Vandenberg (Booster B1081’s 15th flight) which contributed to more than 7,600 active satellites by June 12.

Both the missions are a part of an aggressive Starlink deployment, mainly for boosting the low Earth orbit constellation for the global broadband coverage. Now the network expands to approximately 7900 satellites, focusing on the biggest LEO broadband constellation ever.

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Astronomers Discover a Gigantic Supernova Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

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July 1, 2025

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Astronomers Discover a Gigantic Supernova Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Astronomers international team has employed various satellites and telescopes for performing multiwavelength observations of a supernova remnant known as SNR J0450.4-7050. The result that scientists got after an observational campaign, published on June 18, 2025, on the preprint server arXiv, gained new insights into the properties of this remnant, and observed that it is much larger than thought in the past. Supernova remnants (SNRs) are expanded structures resulting from the explosion of a supernova. It usually lasts for several hundred thousand years before the time it disperses into the interstellar medium.

Multiwavelength Observations Reveal New Details of SNR J0450.4-7050

As per the study by NASA, observations by the scientists indicate that SNRs contain the ejected expansion of material from the explosion and other interstellar material swept by the passage of the shockwave from the star that exploded. SNR studies beyond the Milky Way are important for comprehending the feedback in different evolutionary phases and gaining valuable insights into the local ISM. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the galaxy that has its SNR population explored in depth.

Importance of Studying Supernova Remnants Beyond the Milky Way

The recent observations reveal that SNR J0450.4-7050, a large supernova remnant in the LMC having physical dimensions of 332 by 244 light years, is estimated to have the remnants of around 45,000 years old. Scientists named it Veliki, which means large in Serbian. It also showcases the complex filamentary morphology with different inner and outer shell structures.

Discovery of Veliki: A Large, Aged Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

An astronomer’s group led by Zachary J. Smeaton decided to take a closer observation of SNR J0450.4−7050 by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and MeerKAT radio telescope. The SNR showed a high radial surface brightness with one of the lowest average radio spectral indices, with similar remnants.

Unusual Radio Properties Suggest Veliki is a Fully Radiative SNR

These unusual features, according to the scientists, give the prediction that Veliki is mainly a radiative SNR with a high shock compression ratio. This states about the non-thermal spectrum and higher surface brightness and emissions. Further observations of the surrounding environment are needed to confirm the hypothesis with an understanding of the remnants’ nature in a better way.

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