JWST Reveals Galaxy-Killing Wind Behind Early Galaxies’ Rapid Demise
Using JWST and ALMA, astronomers observed the merging galaxy CRISTAL-02 about 1 billion years after the Big Bang and detected a powerful, high-velocity outflow that ejects cold gas far from the galaxy. This wind can strip the material needed to form new stars, and if it continues, CRISTAL-02 could be dead in under 50 million years, helping explain why many massive early galaxies stopped forming stars so quickly. The findings, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, suggest mergers and intense starbursts may have driven widespread galaxy-killing winds in the young universe.