Using the NIKA2 camera on IRAM’s 30-meter telescope, astronomers have achieved a new sensitivity record, uncovering a massive structure of dust-rich, intensely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe – just one billion years after the Big Bang.
The NIKA2 Cosmological Legacy Survey (N2CLS) revealed galaxies forming stars up to 1000 times faster than the Milky Way, many completely obscured in optical images. Together, these galaxies form an embryonic cluster stretching over 30 million light-years, offering an unprecedented glimpse of early galaxy assembly and extreme star formation efficiency.
This discovery highlights the power of combining ground- and space-based observations, including NOEMA and JWST, to study the formation of the first massive structures in the cosmos.
Read the full IRAM press release.
Image: IRAM