Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, this episode explores a rare five-galaxy merger seen just 800 million years after the Big Bang. Known as JWST’s Quintet, the discovery shows galaxies forming stars and interacting far earlier and faster than expected.

A surrounding oxygen halo reveals that these collisions were already spreading heavy elements into space, forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies formed in the early universe.

This episode includes AI-generated content.