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Cosmic Reionization [1]
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Date: 2023-11
Cosmic Reionization
This long, vertical infographic, titled “Cosmic Reionization,” is split into four sections.
Exploring the Early Universe
Text: Our view of the universe wasn’t always so clear. More than 13 billion years ago, neutral gas made the universe opaque to some types of light. Over hundreds of millions of years, the universe became transparent as its gas particles became charged or ionized. What caused the gas to change? The James Webb Space Telescope will peer deep into space to gather more information about objects in this period, known as the Era of Reionization, to help us understand this major transition in the history of the universe.
A large cone takes up almost the full width of the infographic. The cone is split into five sections.
At left, the cone is narrow. This section is labeled “Big bang, 13.8 billion years ago.” The background of the cone is dark gray, but is mixed with blue-green swirls.
The cone’s second section, which appears as a flat circle that marks the end of the first section, is labeled “Cosmic microwave background, about 13.7 billion years ago, (370,000 years after the big bang).” The flat circle is a smattering of green, blue, and dark blue dots.
The third section of the cone is labeled “Dark ages, ended 13.6 billion years ago.” This section is slightly larger than the first section. It shows a mix of black and dark blue swirls.
A white circle breaks the third and fourth sections. The fourth section is even wider and larger than the previous sections. It is labeled “Era of reionization, ended 12.8 billion years ago.” The background is blue-green overall, but is darker at left and lighter at right. Small dots, that begin as gray circles, appear at the left side of this section, becoming larger and more blue-green toward the right. The blue-green blobs at right appear to be running into one another and overlapping.
Above this section of the cone, a long wavy line appears. It begins with tighter waves shown in blue and slowly becomes a looser, wiggly line that transitions into light purple and then red. The line has longer, wider waves as it reaches a white icon of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s mirrors face the wavy line. The telescope sits above the fifth section.
A white circle breaks the fourth and fifth sections. This region is not as wide as the previous one, but is the tallest part of the cone. It is labeled “Present.” Small gray blobs appear at the left side of this section, while larger multicolored blobs appear in the middle, and clearer spiral shapes at far right. The spirals appear in a range of colors, including white, light blue, pink, and yellow, and are shown in a range of sizes.
What We Do Know
Text: After the first stars formed, the universe was still cast in a gaseous fog, but as stars and young galaxies continue to evolve and produce more energetic light, they began to change the gas around them—converting it from neutral to ionized gas. Eventually, they transformed the space, making it possible to observe these early galaxies.
Four large squares appear in this section, each with short labels.
At top left, a largely dark gray-blue background has small bubble-like objects with white dots at their centers. Label reads, “Stars begin forming, heating gas.”
At top right, the background is slightly lighter gray-blue, but still darker overall. Far larger bubbles, some overlapping, appear across this box. The bubbles in the center are larger, semi-transparent, and irregularly shaped. Each blob has a white object at its center. Label reads, “Stars assemble into galaxies.”
The bottom-left image has a darker gray-blue background, and the bubbles, which have medium blue-green outlines, are far larger. They have dark gray-blue interiors, but at their centers, there are now semi-transparent blobs of various colors, including white, pink, and orange. Most of the bubbles are overlapping, their outlines joining one another. Label reads, “Galaxies become more massive.”
The bottom-right image has the darkest gray-blue background. The bubbles have disappeared. There are more than a dozen galaxies, some larger and multicolored, and others smaller and in single color, all across the image. Label reads “Clear universe, end of reionization.”
Oodles of New Data
Text: How did stars and galaxies change over time? Webb’s infrared observations will help us create the first detailed snapshot of galaxies in the early universe—as well as provide much more information than ever possible before. With this new data, researchers will begin to analyze individual objects to understand how the surrounding gas changed from neutral to ionized, creating the transparent universe we see today.
Six icons with labels are organized in two rows, with three icons in each row.
A dark blue hexagon at top left has an icon of a six-sided orange aperture inside it. Label reads “Deliver a More Detailed Snapshot.”
A dark blue hexagon at top center shows two light blue spirals and yellow dots inside it, representing a spiral galaxy. Label reads “Classify Individual Galaxies.”
A dark blue hexagon at top right has a yellow lightning bolt with a circle around it. Label reads “Gauge the Energy Output of Luminous Objects.”
A dark blue hexagon at bottom left has the outlines of five stars of various sizes, each with four points. Label reads “Measure Star Formation in Galaxies.”
A dark blue hexagon at bottom center represents the element Nitrogen. Label reads “Learn How Metal-rich Early Galaxies Were.”
A dark blue hexagon at bottom right has an icon of orange and yellow spirals with a gray cone through the middle, representing a disk around a black hole and a jet. Label reads “Find Evidence of Early Black Holes.”
Looking Back in Time
Text: Webb will dig deeper into the universe’s history than any other telescope—showing us galaxies as they began assembling more than 13 billion years ago. Only Webb has the sensitivity and resolution to deliver higher resolution images and unique, colorful spectra in infrared light (depicted below as rainbows) that will help us learn about the conditions in the Era of Reionization.
A single, large illustration the width of the infographic appears in this section. The background shows a typical field of illustrated galaxies, all of various shapes and sizes. Some are spiral in shape, others amorphous. Three areas toward the bottom have boxes that enlarge what they show.
At the left, the box enlarges a yellow and light blue irregularly shaped galaxy. Below this inset, a rainbow bar to represent its spectrum appears with superimposed bright lines, and is labeled “Signatures of star formation.”
At the center, a box enlarges two dim galaxies. The one in the top left is fuzzy and dark pink. The galaxy at the bottom right is smaller, fuzzy, and red. This box is labeled “Farthest galaxies.”
At the right, a single yellow spiral galaxy appears slightly off-center. It also has a rainbow bar with a different set of bright lines beneath the box to represent its spectrum. It is labeled “Signatures of black holes.”
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[1] Url:
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2020/37/4697-Image
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