UW astrophysicists discover deep space ‘jellyfish galaxy’
Posted Feb 22, 2026 06:00:00 AM.
Last Updated Feb 23, 2026 11:50:17 AM.
A group of astrophysicists at the University of Waterloo have discovered a jellyfish galaxy in deep space.
The discovery was made using the James Webb Space Telescope while examining a piece of sky named the COSMOS field.
It’s a section of space not obstructed by objects that are closer to Earth. It allows researchers to clearly look at objects that are billions of light-years away.
In fact, the location of the newly discovered jellyfish galaxy is so far away that the light the researchers are seeing is over 8.5 billion years old. They are essentially seeing what that area of space looked like at that time. It’s also shedding light on how the universe behaved while still forming.
“The first is that cluster environments were already harsh enough to strip galaxies, and the second is that galaxy clusters may strongly alter galaxy properties earlier than expected,” Ian Roberts, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics in the Faculty of Science, said. “Another is that all the challenges listed might have played a part in building the large population of dead galaxies we see in galaxy clusters today. This data provides us with rare insight into how galaxies were transformed in the early universe.”
So, what is a jellyfish galaxy?
It looks like a regular galaxy, only it has long tentacles trailing behind it made of gas. In the tentacles are small “knots” which are stars being formed.
According to a press release, there has been a long-held belief that jellyfish galaxies were rare in the early universe, but this discovery is changing those opinions.
The team has requested more time on the JWST to continue its research.
The study has been published in The Astrophysics Journal.
