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Astronomical observations with the James Webb Space Telescope support the hypothesis that the first pronounced structures in our Universe may have formed much earlier than previously assumed. Using a highly sensitive filtering method, Prof. Dr Matteo Maturi, astrophysicist at Heidelberg University, alongside colleagues from the University of Bologna (Italy), managed to identify numerous galaxy groups from the telescope’s data, whose origins date far back into the history of the cosmos. This extensive dataset therefore provides insights that could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of structure formation in the Universe.
Press Release
Heidelberg, 19 May 2025
Data from the James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Early Structures in the Universe
Heidelberg astrophysicist creates the “deepest” catalog of galaxy groups to date through international collaboration
Astronomical observations with the James Webb Space Telescope support the hypothesis that the first pronounced structures in our Universe may have formed much earlier than previously assumed. Using a highly sensitive filtering method, Prof. Dr Matteo Maturi, astrophysicist at Heidelberg University, alongside colleagues from the University of Bologna (Italy), managed to identify numerous galaxy groups from the telescope’s data, whose origins date far back into the history of the cosmos. This extensive dataset therefore provides insights that could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of structure formation in the Universe.
Early structures in the Universe must be very distant from Earth to be observable today. In order to reliably find them and determine properties beyond their distance, highly sensitive filtering methods are used in astronomical observations, such as the one developed by Heidelberg astrophysicist Matteo Maturi in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Bologna. Their method is based on a special algorithm, which an international research team has now applied to high-quality data from astronomical observations.
This data was collected with the James Webb Space Telescope as part of the COSMOS-Web program, which surveys a specific region of the Universe across multiple wavelengths. Data analysis revealed galaxy groups dating back almost twelve billion years, nearing the early stages of structure formation – the formation of galaxies – in the Universe. Prof. Maturi notes that this catalog of galaxy groups, the deepest of its kind to date, offers a unique dataset for advancing the study of early structures in the Universe. The newly discovered galaxy groups will now be studied for their physical properties to better understand how such structures could have formed so early in cosmic history. Matteo Maturi conducts research at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at Heidelberg University.
The project involved researchers from across the globe, with participants from Chile, China, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, and the USA. The research findings have been published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics”.
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presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de
G. Toni, G. Gozaliasl, M. Maturi et al.: The COSMOS-Web deep galaxy group catalog up to z = 3.7. Astronomy & Astrophysics (19 May 2025), https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553759
http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~maturi – Matteo Maturi research group
https://esawebb.org/images/comparisons/potm2504 – ESA press release
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