A team of international astronomers has unveiled the largest and deepest sample of galaxy groups ever detected, utilizing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the COSMOS Web area of the sky.

This extensive dataset, set to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, spans approximately 12 billion years and documents nearly 1,700 galaxy groups, capturing light from some of the universe's earliest galaxies.

The JWST, operational since 2022, has enabled astronomers to observe galaxies that are a billion times dimmer than what the human eye can perceive, facilitating a deeper understanding of the universe's early states.

The research highlights that galaxies are not uniformly distributed; instead, they form interconnected clusters within a cosmic web, with dense regions housing most of the universe's galaxies, including our own Milky Way.

Ghassem Gozaliasl, head of the galaxy groups detection team from Aalto University, emphasized the importance of studying these groups to understand dark matter, supermassive black holes, and the thermal history of intergalactic hot gas.

The findings reveal that galaxies evolve over time, transitioning from irregular shapes and high star formation rates in the early universe to more symmetric forms with quenched star formation in more recent cosmic history.

By tracing the development of galaxy groups from one billion to 12 billion years ago, the study provides valuable insights into the formation of brightest group galaxies through repeated mergers.

Galaxy groups and clusters are rich environments filled with dark matter, hot gas, and massive central galaxies, which significantly influence the life cycles and evolution of galaxies within them.

Gozaliasl noted that this research represents a significant advancement in our understanding of cosmic evolution, as it allows for comparisons between ancient galaxy structures and more modern ones.

These new observations enhance our understanding of galaxy group evolution and the interactions that transform galaxy structures over time.

Galaxies typically cluster in groups of three to several dozen, or larger clusters containing hundreds to thousands, illustrating the complex structure of the universe.

Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of galaxy evolution and the large-scale structure of the universe, covering a critical period from 12 billion years ago to 1 billion years ago.