Webb Telescope Finds PAHs in a Galaxy with Very Few Metals

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected unexpectedly compact clumps of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Sextans A, a galaxy with just 7% of the Sun's metallicity. This discovery marks the lowest metallicity detection of PAH emission to date, challenging expectations that these molecules are scarce in such metal-poor environments. These PAH emission clumps measure only 0.5-1.5 arcseconds, or 3-10 parsecs, explaining why previous instruments lacked the resolution to observe them. The findings suggest that PAHs can form and survive even in the extremely…