Faint, distant galaxies may have driven early universe makeover

Hubble telescope finds clues to cause of cosmic reionization, study claims

Abell 2744

LIGHTEN UP  Some of the faintest, most distant galaxies detected to date (arcs) appear in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying light from galaxies much farther away.

NASA, ESA

Two cosmic magnifying glasses are giving astronomers a glimpse of some extremely faint galaxies that existed as far back as 600 million years after the Big Bang (13.8