Anita Chandran interviews Professor Justin Spilker
What did your investigation involve?
We were looking for complex organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs. On Earth, they show up in smoke and smog, but they also form naturally in space. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we were trying to set the record for the farthestaway galaxy in which we could see PAHs. We were looking(because it takes time for light to travel to us). The light that JWST found has been travelling to us steadily for 12 billion years. When looking at this light, we spotted these molecules.
