VENUS: A Strongly Lensed Clumpy Galaxy at z ∼ 11–12 Behind the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0257.1-2325
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We present the discovery of a strongly lensed galaxy at z ∼ 11–12, dubbed the “Misty Moons,” identified in the JWST Treasury Survey, Vast Exploration for Nascent, Unexplored Sources. The Misty Moons is gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster MACS J0257.1-2325 at z = 0.505, and has five multiple images suggested by two independent lens models. Two of the five images, ID1 and ID2 ( μ ∼ 20–30), are very bright (F200W∼26 AB mag) and exhibit blue SEDs with prominent Ly α breaks. In the source plane, the Misty Moons is a sub- L * galaxy ( M UV ∼ −18.0 mag) resolved into multiple stellar clumps, each of which has an effective radius of r eff ∼ 10–70 pc and a stellar mass of ∼10 7 M ⊙ . These clumps dominate the stellar mass budget of the Misty Moons (≳80%), similar to other high- z clumps, which suggests a highly clustered mode of star formation in the early Universe, unlike seen in local dwarf galaxies. We convolve the source-plane image with the JWST/NIRCam point-spread function to produce a mock NIRCam image of the Misty Moons without lensing magnification and find that the intrinsic galaxy has a radial surface-brightness profile comparable to those of z ≳ 10 faint galaxies, such as JADES-GS-z13-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, indicating that the Misty Moons represents a typical z ≳ 10 faint galaxy. The Misty Moons, a lensed galaxy with resolved internal structures, provides an ideal laboratory for exploring the early stages of galaxy formation at z ≳ 10.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Minami Nakane, Vasily Kokorev, Seiji Fujimoto, Masami Ouchi, Derek J. McLeod, Miriam Golubchik, Masamune Oguri, Adi Zitrin, Cecilia Bondestam, Callum T. Donnan, Gabriel Brammer, Steven L. Finkelstein, Chris Willott, Gregor Rihtaršič, Guillaume Desprez, Angela Adamo, Eros Vanzella, Maruša Bradač, Matteo Messa, Hiroto Yanagisawa, Fengwu Sun, Henry C. Ferguson, Ray A. Lucas, Dan Coe, Johan Richard, Abdurro’uf, Hollis B. Akins, Joseph F. V. Allingham, Ricardo O. Amorín, Yoshihisa Asada, Hakim Atek, Franz E. Bauer, Rachel Bezanson, Larry D. Bradley, John Chisholm, Christopher J. Conselice, Pratika Dayal, Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky, Jose M. Diego, Andreas L. Faisst, Gavin Farley, Qinyue Fei, Brenda L. Frye, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Lukas J. Furtak, Yuichi Harikane, Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, Yolanda Jiménez-Teja, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Tomokazu Kiyota, Anton M. Koekemoer, Claudia del P. Lagos, Georgios E. Magdis, Ashish Kumar Meena, Lamiya Mowla, Gaël Noirot, Pascal A. Oesch, Yoshiaki Ono, Rafael Ortiz, Richard Pan, Casey Papovich, Justin D. R. Pierel, Massimo Ricotti, Luke Robbins, Daniel Schaerer, Raffaella Schneider, Tommaso Treu, Francesco Valentino, Rogier A. Windhorst, Volker Bromm, Eiichi Egami, Mauro González-Otero, Kotaro Kohno, Ivo Labbe, Jorryt Matthee, Marcie Mun, Rohan P. Naidu, Roberta Tripodi
Institutions: The University of Tokyo, The University of Texas at Austin, University of Toronto, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Edinburgh, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Chiba University, NSF NOIRLab, University of Copenhagen, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council Canada, University of Ljubljana, University of Groningen, Stockholm University, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, National Institute for Astrophysics, University of California, Davis, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, Space Telescope Science Institute, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Université de Lyon, Indiana University, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Sorbonne Université, University of Tarapacá, University of Pittsburgh, University of Manchester, University of Geneva, Instituto de Física de Cantabria, California Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, National Observatory, Rochester Institute of Technology, The University of Western Australia, ASTRO-3D, ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, Technical University of Denmark, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, Arizona State University, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, University of Maryland, College Park, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sapienza University of Rome, University of California System, Swinburne University of Technology, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Astronomical Observatory of Rome, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, Canarie, Villum Fonden, Space Telescope Science Institute, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, University of Toronto, Vetenskapsrådet, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Alliance de recherche numérique du Canada, Goddard Space Flight Center, Canadian Space Agency, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, European Regional Development Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, NextGenerationEU
Awards: STARLYRE - The little sparks that trace galaxy assembly through cosmic time, G103270039, G1055883707, G1105844351, G112473895, G112949879, G1171257612, INSTITUTO MILENIO DE ASTROFISICA, G1272900390, ＪＷＳＴとＰＦＳのα/Ｆｅ測定で探る遠方銀河の超新星爆発と天の川銀河の恒星の起源, G1622782223, G1799927510, G1849103467, G1937183648, G231133531, G256731684, G2724668986, G29653401, G318412399, G3696727022, G373897614, G3817602061, Uncovering Early Cosmic Evolution with JWST and Subaru/PFS Spectroscopy and Theoretical Modeling, G3827351950, G4008337681, G4096137220, G410571670, G4130048563, G4212894969, G4223882967, Phasenübergänge und Instabilitäten, Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), G4286721033, G433322167, G4347000405, G4408153509, G4518818167, G451917667, G4523730310, G463062595, G4648019588, G4673423103, Investigating the first star formation and reionization process of the Universe by MWA, G4863782507, G490430286, G491712853, G4993905653, G5125232727, Frontiers of Cosmic Reionization and Galaxy Formation Opened Up by the Massive Spectroscopic Survey with Subaru PFS, G5195188938, G5404395142, G5539308778, G5547202715, G5560469105, G5568641063, G5635532810, G58316358, G5881647929, G5894067328, G5967599077, G6033112984, G624877701, G6273510985, G628552264, G6474273050, G6520718613, G6531013582, コンテクストの構造―その型態と機能―, G657081478, G6603402766, G6608474652, G6687328476, THE STUDY OF GALAXIES AND SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES AT COSMIC DAWN., G6722835988, G6865020320, Comprehensive understanding of the formation history of structures in the Universe, G6909262500, G7123013300, G7134004685, G7297228001, G7330396402, G7395345766, A Revolutionary New Window on the First Galaxies, THE PROPOSAL SEEKS TO ACCOMPLISH SEVERAL INVESTIGATIONS TO SIMULATE THE PERFORMANCE OF JWST DEEP FIELD SURVEYS, VARYING AS-YET-POORLY CHARACTERIZED P, G7453477117, G7484640950, G7600003594, 古代説話における諸寺縁起の研究, 極金属欠乏銀河のヘリウム組成比で探る宇宙のレプトン非対称性, G7805626310, G7863371703, G7874141116, G7882829820, Star formation within evolving galaxies: the revolution of the James Webb Space Telescope, G7979596951, SPECTRO-TEMPORAL STUDIES OF AGN POPULATIONS, G8292218783, IN 2002 WE WERE GRANTED 110 HOURS GTO TIME FOR A JWST MEDIUM-DEEP SURVEY. WITH HST AND SPITZER EXPERIENCE 14 YEARS LATER WE REDEFINE THIS SURVEY TO IMAGE~18 NIRCAM FIELDS IN 7 FILTERS TO AB<~ 29 29.3 MAG YIELDING 140 000 GALAXIES AT 0<~ Z<~ 12 15 IN 0.05 DEG2 (>~ 30 HUDFS!). WE WILL STUDY GALAXY ASSEMBLY + SUPER-MASSIVE BLACK-HOLE GROWTH AT Z 0 7 INCLUDING OBJECT VARIABILITY ON MONTHS YEARS TIMESCALES. WE STUDY THE REIONIZING POPULATION AT Z 2 8 AND USE THE BEST LENSING TARGETS TO OPTIMIZE OUR STUDY OF FIRST LIGHT OBJECTS AT Z 10 15. OUR SCIENCE GOALS ARE: 1. GALAXY ASSEMBLY; 2. SUPER-MASSIVE BLACK-HOLE GROWTH; 3. REIONIZATION; 4. FIRST LIGHT; 5. STUDY THE BEST LENSING CLUSTERS TO FIND JWST OBJECTS. MAP&REMOVE STRAYLIGHT GRADIENTS AND QUANTIFY SAMPLE COMPLETENESS IN RANDOM FIELD&CLUSTER IMAGES: WE WILL: A) USE HUDF AND HFF DATA TO SIMULATE MAP AND REMOVE A RANGE OF STRAYLIGHT AMPLITUDES AND GRADIENTS THAT COULD AFFECT RANDOM DEEP FIELDS (DFS) AND CLUSTER FIELDS WITH JWST; B) DETERMINE ACCURATE COMPLETENESS CORRECTIONS VS. GALAXY FLUX SIZE WAVELENGTH AND LOCATION IN JWST DFS OF VARIOUS DEPTH AND IN CLUSTER FIELDS WITH THEIR KNOWN GALAXY CLUSTER+ICL FOREGROUND; C) DETERMINE THE CLUSTER SELECTION FUNCTIONS BY FOLDING LENSING MAPS WITH SIMULATED BACKGROUND IMAGES YIELDING SIMULATED LENSED IMAGES AND THEIR COMPLETENESS CORRECTIONS FOR LENSED SOURCES WHICH WE SHOW CAN BE FACTORS 2 3; AND D) MODEL COSMIC VARIANCE IN HIERARCHICAL MODELS AT Z 6 15. WE WILL CORRECT THE LFS FOR THESE COMPLETENESS FUNCTIONS. WE WILL THEN USE A BAYESIAN CODE TO DETERMINE THE OPTIMAL SET OF LF EVOLUTION PARAMETERS FROM THE AVAILABLE JWST DATA TO QUANTIFY HOW GALAXIES ASSEMBLED SINCE Z<~ 15., G8477266931, G8497050386, G8667377315, G8684856318, CENTRO DE ASTROFISICA Y TECNOLOGIAS AFINES (CATA), Biodegradable microspheres as a novel vaccine delivery system, First galaxy formation probed by thorough analysis of JWST data, G899293041, G9000111399, G9000370935, G929308097, G972786147
OpenAlex ID: W7222983787