A study published on May 6, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal has presented the most detailed map of the cosmic web to date.
The research, led by the University of California, Riverside, utilized data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to trace the large-scale structure of the universe back to when it was approximately one billion years old.
Survey Details
The map was produced as part of the COSMOS-Web survey, the largest JWST General Observer program conducted to date. The 255-hour program covers a sky area equivalent to the size of three full Moons.
The dataset includes a catalog of 164,000 galaxies, providing improved resolution and depth compared to earlier Hubble Space Telescope-based surveys like COSMOS2020. By detecting fainter, lower-mass, and more distant objects with greater redshift precision, JWST’s infrared instruments enabled the detection of faint, distant galaxies not visible to earlier telescopes.
This has resulted in a map that reveals finer structural details; according to the research team, what previously appeared as single structures in Hubble images are now resolved into multiple components.
Key Findings
The map traces the distribution and evolution of galaxies within cluster and filamentary structures across cosmic time, from 13 billion years ago to the present day.
The data indicates that dense regions of the cosmic web were sites of rapid galaxy growth in the early universe but later became environments where star formation ceased.
Researchers stated that this transition occurred approximately 7 billion years ago, after which environmental factors, rather than galaxy mass, became the primary driver of star formation quenching. Massive galaxies in dense environments were observed to be more likely to become quiescent due to dark matter halos exceeding 1 trillion solar masses and feedback from active supermassive black holes.
Public Data Release
The research team has publicly released the large-scale structure maps, the galaxy catalog of 164,000 galaxies, and a video depicting the evolution of the cosmic web. The study was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
Key Researchers:
- Hossein Hatamnia (lead author, University of California, Riverside and Carnegie Observatories)
- Bahram Mobasher (co-author, University of California, Riverside)