JWST and lensing galaxy clusters: reaching for galaxies in the early universe

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, Groningen, The Netherlands

Abstract

How did galaxies form? How have they evolved over cosmic time? These are two central questions that astronomers have investigated now for decades through extragalactic studies. While the existence of galaxies beyond the Milky Way was recognised nearly a century ago, it was not until the 1990s with the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that astronomers were able to systematically study distant galaxies and explore their properties and evolutionary histories.