Using the James Webb Space Telescope and a natural cosmic magnifier, astronomers may have glimpsed Population III stars, the universe’s very first stars.

 

Using the James Webb Space Telescope and a natural cosmic magnifier, astronomers may have glimpsed Population III stars, the universe’s very first stars. Located in galaxy LAP1-B, 13 billion light-years away, these stars formed just 800 million years after the Big Bang and were made only of hydrogen and helium.

A massive galaxy cluster, MACS J0416, acted as a gravitational lens, magnifying LAP1-B’s light by 100 times allowing scientists to detect low-metallicity gas clouds and stellar groupings matching predictions for these primordial giants.

If confirmed, this discovery would be the first direct evidence of the stars that sparked the cosmic dawn, illuminating how the earliest galaxies, planets, and eventually life came to be.

Source: The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2025), “LAP1-B is the First Observed System Consistent with Theoretical Predictions for Population III Stars”

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