J. S. Spilker

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted complex organic molecules, which usually form in smoke and smog, in the very distant universe. With help from a galactic gravitational anomaly, the telescope could see the molecules from more than 12 billion light-years away. The molecules in question are known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and here on Earth, they’re usually present in smoke and smog from burning wood, coal, oil, gas and other materials.

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According to the current understanding of cosmic structure formation, the precursors of the most massive structures in the Universe began to form shortly after the Big Bang, in regions corresponding to the largest fluctuations in the cosmic density field1,2,3.