Astronomers at the University of Waterloo have identified a "jellyfish" galaxy approximately 12 billion light-years from Earth using images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This galaxy, named COSMOS2020-635829, exhibits long streams of gas and young stars being expelled from one side, a result of ram pressure stripping (RPS).
RPS occurs when a galaxy moves through a dense environment, such as galaxy clusters, pushing gas and stars out of the galactic body, forming "tentacles" that can trigger new star formation. The study, published on arXiv, reveals that COSMOS2020-635829 has a stellar mass of about 10 billion solar masses and a star formation rate of approximately 100 solar masses per year.
The presence of these "tentacles" is rare, as this stage in the cosmic timescale is brief, making its observation by telescopes an exceptional event. Analysis of these galaxies may provide insights into why some galaxies in dense environments form fewer new stars than others. The distribution of gas and local conditions appear to play a crucial role in this process.