--- title: James Webb Reveals New Clues About the Origins of Universe description: What we learned about the birth of stars during the universe's 'cosmic noon' from the James Webb telescope's new dazzling image. canonical: https://time.com/6246973/james-webb-telescope-stars-origins-of-universe/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-01-12T19:24:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:04.513Z article:section: Science og:title: The Latest James Webb Image Reveals New Clues About the Origins of the Universe og:description: What we learned about the birth of stars during the universe's 'cosmic noon' og:url: https://time.com/6246973/james-webb-telescope-stars-origins-of-universe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt251ea82213f798dd/698a39744ee26271a431b046/Webb-ngc-346.jpg?branch=production&width=985&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 985 og:image:height: 554 og:image:alt: Webb ngc 346 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Latest James Webb Image Reveals New Clues About the Origins of the Universe twitter:description: What we learned about the birth of stars during the universe's 'cosmic noon' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt251ea82213f798dd/698a39744ee26271a431b046/Webb-ngc-346.jpg?branch=production&width=985&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Latest James Webb Image Reveals New Clues About the Origins of the Universe > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=652cc5a6-1d6b-4820-9581-6c318452994b&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Innovator of the Year: Gregory Robinson and The James Webb Space Telescope [Watch (HLS stream): Innovator of the Year: Gregory Robinson and The James Webb Space Telescope](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vvFzrrBk.m3u8) (4:23)  _Published 2022-12-07. TIME's 2022 Innovator of the Year is Gregory Robinson and The James Webb Telescope_  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jan 12, 2023 7:24 PM UTC  Webb's groundbreaking image of the star-forming region known as NGC 346, located 200,000 light years from Earth. Webb's groundbreaking image of the star-forming region known as NGC 346, located 200,000 light years from Earth. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, O. Jones (UK ATC), G. De Marchi (ESTEC), and M. Meixner (USRA). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI), N. Habel (USRA), L. Lenkic (USRA) and L. Chu (NASA/Ames)  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jan 12, 2023 7:24 PM UTC The universe was a busy place 11 to 12 billion years ago—or just 2 to 3 billion years after the [Big Bang](https://time.com/6240683/james-webb-telescope-discovers-oldest-galaxies-ever-seen/). That is the period astronomers refer to as the “cosmic noon,” when young galaxies were [forming stars](https://time.com/6203311/james-webb-telescope-images-stars-history/) at a fast and furious rate. High noon for the cosmos has long since passed—or it would seem to have. But there is one pocket in which it persists. And, in another in a growing series of triumphs, the [James Webb Space Telescope](https://time.com/innovator-of-the-year-2022-james-webb-telescope/) has returned an eye-popping image of that small region—revealing new secrets about the origins of the universe. The object featured in the just-released picture is known as NGC 346, a portion of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)—a dwarf galaxy located just 200,000 light years from Earth. NGC 346 was already known as a [nursery for infant stars](https://time.com/6223491/james-webb-telescope-pillars-of-creation-picture/), as are many parts of the modern universe. Those areas form stars more slowly than during the cosmic noon, because they are known to be low in metals and other elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Those heavier elements make up [space](https://time.com/6195785/james-webb-telescope-images-released-space/) dust—which contributes to the formation of stars; due to their low metal content, however, modern star-forming regions are thought to be relatively dust-free. That doesn’t stop them from creating stars—just not at the pace they were formed during the cosmic noon. The Webb’s observations of NGC 346, however, revealed just the opposite of what was expected: great clouds of dust that accelerate the formation of stars. “A galaxy during cosmic noon wouldn’t have one NGC 346 like the Small Magellanic Cloud does; it would have thousands,” said Margaret Meixner, a principal investigator in the study that produced the new image, [in a NASA statement](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-s-webb-uncovers-star-formation-in-cluster-s-dusty-ribbons). “But even if NGC 346 is now the one and only massive cluster furiously forming stars in its galaxy, it offers us a great opportunity to probe conditions that were in place at cosmic noon.” The presence of so much dust in NGC 346 confirms the pre-existing theory that galaxies during the cosmic noon were also heavy in dust—offering, effectively, a close-up artifact of the ancient universe. It also suggests that NGC 346 might not only be forming stars, but planets too, which accrete from swirls of metallic dust. If that’s so, it means Earth-like planets may have formed during the cosmic noon as well—much earlier in the history of the universe than planetologists had originally believed. “Since the Small Magellanic Cloud has a similar environment to galaxies during cosmic noon,” said astronomer Guido de Marchi, a co-investigator for the study, in the NASA statement, “it’s possible that rocky planets could have formed earlier in the universe than we have thought.” The image itself tells part of that star- and planet-formation story. The various ridges of pink and orange material represent clouds of dust being broken down by young stars beginning to accrete and exert their gravitational muscle. The pink clouds represent energized, or superheated hydrogen, which sizzles at temperatures of 10,000º C (18,000º F). The orange regions represent colder, molecular hydrogen, made up of two hydrogen atoms, which has much lower temperatures of -200º C (-300º F). It is the colder hydrogen that joins with the primordial dust to form the young stars. Whatever the chemistry and stellar physics at play, it is undeniable that the new Webb image is yet another dazzler from a machine that has been in space for just over a year now and has done every little thing its designers and mission planners have asked of it. The new picture is just the latest in the album of cosmic landscapes the telescope has beamed home. In the 20 years of life the Webb has ahead of it, that science-rich image will not remotely be the last. ## Transcript We promised a telescope that was a hundred times more powerful than what we've had before, but not only, is it working. This is better than we expected, time to self. James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe. The first science images that we released in July the president, rolling this out. That's a pretty big deal. The world is really end of this telescope and is along for the ride and wants to know, what the next stop on the road trip, is When was the the real driver? Let's get this thing done. Whatever it takes their issues along the way long before I came on and and no one religion. When you want to do both things, that's really would be some unprecedented risk. And you just try to minimize as much as possible. That's what the team did. They are, they did an excellent job with it. We do a lot of comparisons to I will rightfully so because then I was supposed to be Premier for 30 years Weber's. Probably twice the size of Hubble close to half. The mass was Bubbles and Laura, KB and web is a million miles out, but to see the difference in Clarity and the difference of what you see, and the difference in how quickly you can get the same image, it was thrilling to see those. For Dave Mustaine there's no joystick. It's it's not like anybody's, you know what a little more, the left little the right, it's more like a playlist. We have a very detailed playlist or set of recipes. Every minute of the time is scripted, is in one of those recipes and we schedule the telescope that a week at a time. On launch day, I was here for us. The moment that was so beautiful. That first. Oh my gosh. Things are just going to go. Well on this project was the separation from the launch vehicle that's when this crowd cheered for life. I did not. I don't know if that was just confidence in the team and and the systems and the thrill of Separation than solo race. The Star by blowing, now taking its pursuit of cosmological Discovery and it was the first day that we got to see the images that were going to go public. We all crowded around the corner and it was just gorgeous. For science perspective, star formation. And you're getting a sea star cluster formation within Galaxy. I'm taking out, but I'm also just like, oh my gosh, this is going to show everybody that it works. Off work would fix my whole life and there was no better seen than to see a bunch of Geeks. Just fall over themselves with joy. It's a new window into the history of our universe and today we're going to get a glimpse of the first light to shine through that window light from other worlds orbiting Stars far beyond her own president spending time to talk to us about Webb and roll this out to the world quite quite satisfied, a real sense of our own Galaxy formed our own solar system than our sun on our planets form or not. And lastly, I think we're going to learn so many new questions that we have to go off and try to answer. 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