A magnified compact galaxy at redshift 9.51 with strong nebular emission lines

Authors: Hayley Williams, Patrick L. Kelly, Wenlei Chen, Gabriel Brammer, Adi Zitrin, Tommaso Treu, Claudia Scarlata, Anton M. Koekemoer, Masamune Oguri, Yu-Heng Lin, Jose M. Diego, Mario Nonino, Jens Hjorth, Danial Langeroodi, Tom Broadhurst, Noah Rogers, Ismael Perez-Fournon, Ryan J. Foley, Saurabh Jha, Alexei V. Filippenko, Lou Strolger, Justin Pierel, Frederick Poidevin, Lilan Yang

Published: 2023-04-13

DOI: 10.1126/science.adf5307

Source: Full article


Abstract

Ultraviolet light from early galaxies is thought to have ionized gas in the intergalactic medium. However, there are few observational constraints on this epoch because of the faintness of those galaxies and the redshift of their optical light into the infrared. We report the observation, in JWST imaging, of a distant galaxy that is magnified by gravitational lensing. JWST spectroscopy of the galaxy, at rest-frame optical wavelengths, detects strong nebular emission lines that are attributable to oxygen and hydrogen. The measured redshift is