"This magnification happens when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned from the Earth’s point of view, and light from the background galaxy is warped and magnified by the foreground galaxy into a ring-like shape, known as an Einstein ring," said study co-author Joaquin Vieira, professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
"By combining Webb’s amazing capabilities with a natural ‘cosmic magnifying glass,’ we were able to see even more detail than we otherwise could. That level of magnification is actually what made us interested in looking at this galaxy with Webb in the first place," said Justin Spilker, an assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Physics and Astronomy and a member of the George P and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy.
"Astronomers used to think [large organic molecules] were a good sign that new stars were forming. Anywhere you saw these molecules, baby stars were also right there blazing away... Thanks to the high-definition images from Webb, we found a lot of regions with smoke but no star formation, and others with new stars forming but no smoke,” Spilke said.
"It's amazing that we can identify molecules billions of light-years away that we’re familiar with here on Earth, even if they show up in ways we don’t like - like smog and smoke. It's also a powerful statement about the amazing capabilities of Webb that we’ve never had before," said Phadke.