Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

44 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 ASTRO PUBLISHING omy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is a partner. The [CII] Resolved ISM in STar-forming galaxies with ALMA (CRISTAL survey) peered back to when the Universe was only about one billion years old – a mere toddler in cosmic terms. These observations are helping scientists understand how galaxies formed and evolved from primordial gas clouds into the organized structures we see today. “ALMA’s incredible ability to see through dust and gas has allowed us to observe these distant galaxies in remarkable detail,” explains Rodrigo Ignacio Herrera Camus, with Chile’s Universidad de Concepción. “We’re not just seeing blobs of light; we’re ALMA reveals stunning details of early galaxies by NRAO A stronomers are getting a much clearer picture of what galaxies looked like in the early Universe, thanks to a large, comprehensive, and detailed study using the Atacama Large Millime- ter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astron-