Joop Schaye

The James Webb Space Telescope looks back in time and sees the universe when it was less than a billion years old. In this young universe, galaxies already shine, and at their centers sit supermassive black holes — the ones that will later grow into giants. How did they manage to gain mass so quickly?

A galaxy is more than just a stellar island. Surrounding it, far beyond the edge of the visible disk, hangs a tenuous cloud of gas. It barely emits light, but it is through this cloud that the galaxy breathes: drawing in fresh hydrogen to form new stars and expelling processed material after supernova explosions.