Scientists Identify ‘Astronomy’s Platypus’ with NASA’s Webb Telescope

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Scientists Identify ‘Astronomy’s Platypus’ with NASA’s Webb Telescope

After combing through NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s archive of sweeping extragalactic cosmic fields, a small team of astronomers at the University of Missouri says they have identified a sample of galaxies that have a previously unseen combination of features. Principal investigator Haojing Yan compares the discovery to an infamous oddball in another branch of science: biology’s taxonomy-defying platypus.

“It seems that we’ve identified a population of galaxies that we can’t categorize, they are so odd. On the one hand they are extremely tiny and compact, like a point source, yet we do not see the characteristics of a quasar, an active supermassive black hole, which is what most distant point sources are,” said Yan.

The research was presented in a press conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix. 

Image A: Galaxies in CEERS Field (NIRCam image)

“I looked at these characteristics and thought, this is like looking at a platypus. You think that these things should not exist together, but there it is right in front of you, and it’s undeniable,” Yan said.

The team whittled down a sample of 2,000 sources across several Webb surveys to identify nine point-like sources that existed 12 to 12.6 billion years ago (compared to the universe’s age of 13.8 billion years). Spectral data gives astronomers more information than they can get from an image alone, and for these nine sources it doesn’t fit existing definitions. They are too far away to be stars in our own galaxy, and too faint to be quasars, which are so brilliant that they outshine their host galaxies. Though the spectra resemble the less distant “green pea” galaxies discovered in 2009, the galaxies in this sample are much more compact.

“Like spectra, the detailed genetic code of a platypus provides additional information that shows just how unusual the animal is, sharing genetic features with birds, reptiles, and mammals,” said Yan. “Together, Webb’s imaging and spectra are telling us that these galaxies have an unexpected combination of features.”

Yan explained that for typical quasars, the peaks in their characteristic spectral emission lines look like hills, with a broad base, indicating the high velocity of gas swirling around their supermassive black hole. Instead, the peaks for the “platypus population” are narrow and sharp, indicating slower gas movement. 

While there are narrow-line galaxies that host active supermassive black holes, they do not have the point-like feature of the sample Yan’s team has identified.

Image B: Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232: Comparison With Quasar Spectrum

Has Yan’s team discovered a missing link in the cosmos? Once the team determined that the objects didn’t fit the definition of a quasar, graduate student researcher Bangzheng Sun analyzed the data to see if there were signatures of star-forming galaxies.

“From the low-resolution spectra we have, we can’t rule out the possibility that these nine objects are star-forming galaxies. That data fits,” said Sun. “The strange thing in that case is that the galaxies are so tiny and compact, even though Webb has the resolving power to show us a lot of detail at this distance.”

One proposal the team suggests is that Webb, as promised, is revealing earlier stages of galaxy formation and evolution than we have ever been able to see before. It is generally accepted across the astronomy community that large, massive galaxies like our own Milky Way grew by many smaller galaxies merging together. But, Yan asks, what comes before small galaxies? 

“I think this new research is presenting us with the question, how does the process of galaxy formation first begin? Can such small, building-block galaxies be formed in a quiet way, before chaotic mergers begin, as their point-like appearance suggests?” Yan said.

To begin answering that question, as well as to determine more about the nature of their odd platypuses, the team says they need a much larger sample than nine to analyze, and with higher-resolution spectra. 

“We cast a wide net, and we found a few examples of something incredible. These nine objects weren’t the focus; they were just in the background of broad Webb surveys,” said Yan. “Now it’s time to think about the implications of that, and how we can use Webb’s capabilities to learn more.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

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The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

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Galaxies in CEERS Field (NIRCam image)

Four of the nine galaxies in the newly identified “platypus” sample were discovered in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey” (CEERS). One key feature that makes them distinct is their point-like appearance.

Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232: Comparison With Quasar Spectrum

This graphic illustrates the pronounced narrow peak of the spectra that caught researchers’ attention in a small sample of galaxies, represented here by galaxy CEERS 4233-42232. Typically, distant point-like light sources are quasars, but quasar spectra have a much broader shape.

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NASA Webb Finds Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust

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NASA Webb Finds Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted two rare kinds of dust in the dwarf galaxy Sextans A, one of the most chemically primitive galaxies near the Milky Way. The finding of metallic iron dust and silicon carbide (SiC) produced by aging stars, along with tiny clumps of carbon-based molecules, shows that even when the universe had only a fraction of today’s heavy elements, stars and the interstellar medium could still forge solid dust grains. This research with Webb is reshaping ideas about how early galaxies evolved and developed the building blocks for planets, as NASA explores the secrets of the universe and our place in it.

Sextans A lies about 4 million light-years away and contains only 3 to 7 percent of the Sun’s metal content, or metallicity, the astrophysical term for elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Because the galaxy is so small, unlike other nearby galaxies, its gravitational pull is too weak to retain the heavy elements like iron and oxygen created by supernovae and aging stars.

Galaxies like it resemble those that filled the early universe just after the big bang, when the universe was made of mostly hydrogen and helium, before stars had time to enrich space with ‘metals.’ Because it is relatively close, Sextans A gives astronomers a rare chance to study individual stars and interstellar clouds under conditions similar to those shortly after the big bang.

“Sextans A is giving us a blueprint for the first dusty galaxies,” said Elizabeth Tarantino, postdoctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute and lead author of the results in one of the two studies presented at a press conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix. “These results help us interpret the most distant galaxies imaged by Webb and understand what the universe was building with its earliest ingredients.”

Image A: Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Forging dust without usual ingredients

One of those studies, published in the Astrophysical Journal, honed in on a half a dozen stars with the low-resolution spectrometer aboard Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). The data collected shows the chemical fingerprints of the bloated stars very late in their evolution, called asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Stars with masses between one and eight times that of the Sun pass through this phase.

“One of these stars is on the high-mass end of the AGB range, and stars like this usually produce silicate dust. However, at such low metallicity, we expect these stars to be nearly dust-free,” said Martha Boyer, associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and lead author in that second companion study. “Instead, Webb revealed a star forging dust grains made almost entirely of iron. This is something we’ve never seen in stars that are analogs of stars in the early universe.”

Silicates, the usual dust formed by oxygen-rich stars, require elements like silicon and magnesium that are almost nonexistent in Sextans A. It would be like trying to bake cookies in a kitchen without flour, sugar, and butter. 

A normal cosmic kitchen, like the Milky Way, has those crucial ingredients in the form of silicon, carbon, and iron. In a primitive kitchen, like Sextans A, where almost all of those ingredients are missing, you barely have any proverbial flour or sugar. Therefore, astronomers expected that without those key ingredients, stars in Sextans A couldn’t “bake” much dust at all. 

However, not only did they find dust, but Webb showed that one of these stars used an entirely different recipe than usual to make that dust. 

The iron-only dust, as well as silicon carbide produced by the less massive AGB stars despite the galaxy’s low silicon abundance, proves that evolved stars can still build solid material even when the typical ingredients are missing. 

“Dust in the early universe may have looked very different from the silicate grains we see today,” Boyer said. “These iron grains absorb light efficiently but leave no sharp spectral fingerprints and can contribute to the large dust reservoirs seen in far-away galaxies detected by Webb.”

Image B: Sextans A Context Image (Webb and KPNO)

Tiny clumps of organic molecules

In the companion study, currently under peer review, Webb imaged Sextans A’s interstellar medium and discovered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are complex, carbon-based molecules and the smallest dust grains that glow in infrared light. The discovery means Sextans A is now the lowest-metallicity galaxy ever found to contain PAHs.

But, unlike the broad, sweeping PAH emission seen in metal-rich galaxies, Webb revealed PAHs in tiny, dense pockets only a few light-years across.

“Webb shows that PAHs can form and survive even in the most metal-starved galaxies, but only in small, protected islands of dense gas,” said Tarantino. 

The clumps likely represent regions where dust shielding and gas density reach just high enough to allow PAHs to form and grow, solving a decades-long mystery about why PAHs seem to vanish in metal-poor galaxies.

The team has an approved Webb Cycle 4 program to use high-resolution spectroscopy to study the detailed chemistry of Sextans A’s PAH clumps further. 

Image C: Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A (Spectrum)

Connecting two discoveries

Together, the results show that the early universe had more diverse dust production pathways than the more established and proven methods, like supernova explosions. Additionally, researchers now know there’s more dust than predicted at extremely low metallicities. 

“Every discovery in Sextans A reminds us that the early universe was more inventive than we imagined,” said Boyer. “Clearly stars found a way to make the building blocks of planets long before galaxies like our own existed.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green.

Sextans A Context Image (Webb and KPNO)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of a portion of the nearby Sextans A galaxy is put into context using a ground-based image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (Compass Image)

This image of dwarf galaxy Sextans A, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A (Spectrum)

This graph shows a spectrum of an Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star in the Sextans A galaxy. It compares data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with models of mostly silicate-free dust and dust containing at least 5% silicates.

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Space Station Research Informs New FDA-Approved Cancer Therapy

NASA opens the International Space Station for scientists and researchers, inviting them to use the benefits of microgravity for commercial and public research, technology demonstrations, and more. Today, a portion of the crew’s time aboard station is devoted to private industry, including medical research that addresses complex health challenges on Earth and prepares astronauts for future deep space missions.

In collaboration with scientists at Merck, protein crystal growth research on the space station yielded early insights regarding the structure and size of particles best suited for the development of a new formulation of the company’s cancer medicine pembrolizumab for subcutaneous injection. This new route of delivery was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September and offers a time-saving alternative to intravenous infusion for certain patients. These research efforts aboard the space station were supported by the ISS National Laboratory.

Originally, the treatment was delivered during an in-office visit via infusion therapy into the patient’s veins, a process that could take up to two hours. Initial delivery improvements reduced infusion times to less than 30 minutes every three weeks. The newly approved subcutaneous injectable form takes about one minute every three weeks, promising to improve quality of life for patients by reducing cost and significantly reducing treatment time for patients and healthcare providers.

Since 2014, Merck has flown crystal growth experiments to the space station to better understand how crystals form, including the monoclonal antibody used in this cancer treatment. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that help the body fight diseases. This research focused on producing crystalline suspensions that dissolve easily in liquid, making it possible to deliver the medication by injection. In microgravity, the absence of gravity’s physical forces allows scientists to grow larger, more uniform, and higher-quality crystals than those grown in ground-based labs, advancing medication development and structural modeling.

Research aboard the space station has provided valuable insights into how gravity influences crystallization, helping to improve drug formulations. The work of NASA and its partners aboard the space station improves lives on Earth, grows a commercial economy in low Earth orbit, and prepares for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

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Christian M. Getteau

First Sky Map from NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory

NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, as seen here in this image released on Dec. 18, 2025. This image features a selection of colors emitted primarily by stars (blue, green, and white), hot hydrogen gas (blue), and cosmic dust (red).

While not visible to the human eye, these 102 infrared wavelengths of light are prevalent in the cosmos, and observing the entire sky this way enables scientists to answer big questions, including how a dramatic event that occurred in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang influenced the 3D distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies in our universe. In addition, scientists will use the data to study how galaxies have changed over the universe’s nearly 14-billion-year history and learn about the distribution of key ingredients for life in our own galaxy.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Monika Luabeya

Diving Into Human Spaceflight Safety with NASA Johnson’s Craig Shannon

Growing up in Houston, Craig Shannon was always inspired by NASA and the spirit of exploration the agency represents. Yet it was a passion for scuba diving that unexpectedly led to his more than 23-year career at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Shannon became a certified diver and scuba instructor while earning his bachelor’s degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin State University. He happened to meet divers from NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at a local environmental cleanup event during his senior year. “The encounter planted a seed,” he said.

Shannon was hired as an NBL diver shortly after graduation, launching what would become a 19-year career in dive operations. He progressed through a variety of roles – from utility diver, instructor, and training officer, to dive operations lead, training group lead, and ultimately, dive operations manager. “Each role deepened my understanding of operational excellence, safety, and leadership in high-performance environments,” he said. Shannon added that becoming the dive operations manager was one of the defining points of his career. “I had the privilege of leading an exceptional team and contributing directly to astronaut training and operational excellence.”

Seeking new challenges and opportunities for professional growth, Shannon transitioned to a test safety officer position at Johnson for about four years, expanding his knowledge of technical risk management in different environments. He returned to the NBL in 2025, this time as a safety officer. In that role, Shannon works to protect employees’ well-being and the facility’s operational integrity. His responsibilities are a mix of proactive safety initiatives – such as facility inspections, safety training, and communication – and incident response, which involves investigating mishaps and close calls and developing corrective action plans to prevent recurrence. He also serves as an internal technical consultant, fielding safety-related questions from employees and visitors and providing guidance that complies with Occupational Safety and Health Administration and NASA safety standards.

“I work across functions with operations, engineering, medical, and training teams to integrate safety into all daily processes and long-term planning,” he said. “It brings full circle my commitment to the safety and success of human spaceflight training.”

Shannon acknowledged that not having an engineering degree has made work more challenging at times, but it has not hindered his advancement. “I’ve earned key positions by committing myself to continuous learning, gaining in-depth knowledge of the technical areas I work in, and consistently demonstrating dedication to both my employers and my career,” he said. “My path has required hard work, adaptability, and a proactive approach to professional growth, which I view as strengths that have allowed me to contribute meaningfully in a highly technical setting.”

Shannon has also learned the importance of embracing change. “Change isn’t always easy, but it’s often where the most learning and development happen,” he said. “Whether it was stepping into leadership for the first time, shifting into a new field, or returning to a familiar place with a new purpose, each transition brought growth I never could have anticipated.” He added that patience, accountability, and empathy are important leadership qualities that help build stronger, more resilient teams.

While Shannon takes pride in his work, he said his family is his greatest achievement. “I’m most proud of raising three amazing children with my wife, Kimberley. They have been my grounding force and greatest inspiration,” he said.

He is also the proud co-owner of a local scuba diving company, which allows him to combine his love for diving, travel, and community. “I’ve had the privilege of leading dive trips around the world with groups of amazing people—sharing unforgettable underwater experiences and fostering a strong, adventurous dive community,” he said. “It’s a way for me to stay connected to the roots of my diving career and continue exploring the world through the lens of curiosity and connection.”

He encourages the next generation to find something they are passionate about. “It’s important to be genuinely excited about what you do and to face the challenges ahead with determination and curiosity,” he said. “That energy, paired with a willingness to adapt and grow, has carried me through each phase of my career. Challenges will come, but how you meet them defines your path.”

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