{"id":541105,"date":"2026-03-23T21:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541105\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:35:14","slug":"fact-check-scientists-didnt-release-this-image-allegedly-showing-cosmic-vine-of-galaxies-we-unearthed-the-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541105\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: Scientists didn’t release this image allegedly showing ‘Cosmic Vine’ of galaxies. We unearthed the evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claim:<\/p>\n

Scientists released an image showing the “Cosmic Vine” discovered through the James Webb Space Telescope as a line of galaxies connected to each other in a helix structure.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/p>\n

\"Rating:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rating: False<\/p>\n

Context:<\/p>\n

While researchers did use the James Webb Space Telescope to discover a cluster of galaxies they called the “Cosmic Vine,” they didn’t release an image circulating on social media as part of their studies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March 2026, a Facebook post<\/a> (archived<\/a>) claimed that the James Webb Space Telescope revealed “a breathtaking structure now dubbed the ‘Cosmic Vine’: a string of 20 galaxies stretching across a staggering 13 million light-years.”<\/p>\n

The post included an image credited to NASA and other space agencies that appeared to show massive galaxies linked in a helix-like shape.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Screenshot of Facebook post about Cosmic Vine, including an image of a bunch of galaxies linked together in a vertical chain. The text of the post reads: <\/p>\n

(Facebook page Science and Astronomy)<\/p>\n

The same image of this “Cosmic Vine” spread on other social media platforms, including Instagram<\/a> (archived<\/a>) and X<\/a> (archived<\/a>), as early as mid-2025. Some posts, such as this one from Instagram<\/a> (archived<\/a>), shared the image and claimed the vine “resembles the human DNA<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

While researchers did use the James Webb Space Telescope to discover a cluster of galaxies they called the “Cosmic Vine,” they didn’t release the above image as part of their studies. The images released by researchers studying this Cosmic Vine show the galaxies aren’t linked together and do not resemble human DNA. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.<\/p>\n

A group of researchers published their first study<\/a> concerning the Cosmic Vine in February 2024. The paper described it as a massive vine-like structure from the early universe \u00a0\u2014 a time in which the earliest galaxies were forming \u2014 consisting of 20 galaxies.<\/p>\n

The study included an image of the Cosmic Vine, noting galaxies within it by circling them in green:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An image of a distance stars and galaxies. Galaxies making up the Cosmic Vine are aligned in a faint crescent shape. Most of the galaxies in the vine are far apart from each other.<\/p>\n

The authors of the study circled galaxies that make up the Cosmic Vine in green. (Cosmic Vine: A z = 3.44 large-scale structure hosting massive quiescent galaxies Shuowen Jin, Nikolaj B. Sillassen, Georgios E. Magdis, Malte Brinch, Marko Shuntov, Gabriel Brammer, Raphael Gobat, Francesco Valentino, Adam C. Carnall, Minju Lee, Aswin P. Vijayan, Steven Gillman, Vasily Kokorev, Aur\u00e9lien Le Bail, Thomas R. Greve, Bitten Gullberg, Katriona M. L. Gould and Sune Toft A&A, 683 (2024) L4)<\/p>\n

Those researchers have continued studying the Cosmic Vine in the years since publishing that first paper. In February 2026, the scientists published a new paper on the Cosmic Vine<\/a>, refining their previous research. In this paper, they described the Cosmic Vine as a massive protocluster \u2014 a large group of galaxies in the process of coming together \u2014 of 136 confirmed galaxies from before the universe was 2 billion years old.<\/p>\n

The 2026 paper included an updated image of the Cosmic Vine:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Image of a bunch of stars and galaxies in space. Some galaxies, spread throughout the image, are circled in green \u2014 those are the galaxies of the vine. Various clusters and groups of galaxies are suffered. To the right are images of individual galaxies, none of which are very detailed.<\/p>\n

(Cosmic Vine: High abundance of massive galaxies and dark matter halos in a forming cluster at z = 3.44 Nikolaj B. Sillassen, Shuowen Jin, Georgios E. Magdis, Francesco Valentino, Emanuele Daddi, Raphael Gobat, Malte Brinch, Kei Ito, Tao Wang, Hanwen Sun, Gabriel Brammer, Sune Toft and Thomas R. Greve A&A, 706 (2026) A344)<\/p>\n

The galaxies circled in both green and orange are confirmed members of the Cosmic Vine. Galaxies in yellow are part of a different structure, which the researchers dubbed the “Leaf.” The white contours identify the densest areas of these structures. The purple circles are the main groups of the two structures.<\/p>\n

Even in the updated image with over 100 galaxies added to the Cosmic Vine, the galaxies are still spread out rather than chained together. The images of individual galaxies on the right also show that they are not linked together \u2014 though in at least one instance, two appear to be merging.<\/p>\n

In clusters<\/a>, gravity keeps at least 100 galaxies close to each other. Protoclusters, like the Cosmic Vine, are future clusters in the process of forming. This image<\/a> of an even older protocluster captured by the James Webb Telescope is similarly made up of galaxies that appear far apart in the night sky.<\/p>\n

It’s unlikely a chain of galaxies like the one from the social media post could form in that shape. Galaxies that get too close to each other often \u2014 but not always \u2014 merge. During merging, a pair of galaxies may hook into each other and appear linked<\/a>. The appearance of a third galaxy or more would be unlikely to form a chain; NASA has one image of three merging galaxies<\/a> appearing to come together at a point between them all.<\/p>\n

So, where did the image of the galaxies chained together in a helix shape come from? We were unable to track down the source, but we did find examples of it<\/a> (archived<\/a>) on social media dating back to at least May 2025. Similar fake Cosmic Vine images<\/a> (archived<\/a>) of galaxies linked to each other were also posted on social media around the same time.<\/p>\n

The Cosmic Dawn Center, of which many of the Cosmic Vine’s researchers are affiliated, did not publish<\/a> a press release for the first study and did not use the widely circulated image of the chain of galaxies when it published a press release<\/a> for the most recent Cosmic Vine study.<\/p>\n

The image is likely an artistic representation of the Cosmic Vine or an AI-generated image depicting it.<\/p>\n

For further reading, we investigated claims about the discovery of a “super-Earth” exoplanet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

@pinboy93. “The “Cosmic Vine” \u2013 a Galaxy Megastructure in the Early Universe \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25.” X (Formerly Twitter), 5 May 2025, x.com\/pinboy93\/status\/1919404726908596530\/photo\/1. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

From Quarks to Quasars. “From Quarks to Quasars.” Facebook.com, 7 May 2025, www.facebook.com\/fromquarktoquasars\/posts\/pfbid02JZTqhY9Gzhs7h4N3cXpwTYUSW8rR3ZMJmXxgm4UfUNmfAZQCNYmVMqyYczXYqLV3l. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

“Galaxy Details and Mergers – NASA Science.” Science.nasa.gov, science.nasa.gov\/mission\/hubble\/science\/science-highlights\/galaxy-details-and-mergers\/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

Jin, Shuowen, et al. “Cosmic Vine: A Z = 3.44 Large-Scale Structure Hosting Massive Quiescent Galaxies.” Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 683, 29 Feb. 2024, pp. L4\u2013L4, www.aanda.org\/articles\/aa\/full_html\/2024\/03\/aa48540-23\/aa48540-23.html, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1051\/0004-6361\/202348540<\/a>. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

Laursen, Peter. “James Webb Finds Surprisingly Mature Galaxies in Early Cosmic Megastructure – Cosmic Dawn Center.” Cosmic Dawn Center, 20 Feb. 2026, cosmicdawn.dk\/news\/james-webb-finds-surprisingly-mature-galaxies-in-early-cosmic-megastructure\/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

NASA. “Large Scale Structures – NASA Science.” Science.nasa.gov, 22 Oct. 2024, science.nasa.gov\/universe\/galaxies\/large-scale-structures\/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

NASA Hubble Mission Team. “Hubble Views a Merging Galactic Trio – NASA Science.” Science.nasa.gov, 28 Mar. 2025, science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubble-views-a-merging-galactic-trio\/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

Sillassen, Nikolaj B., et al. “Cosmic Vine: High Abundance of Massive Galaxies and Dark Matter Halos in a Forming Cluster at Z = 3.44.” Astronomy & Astrophysics, vol. 706, 19 Feb. 2026, p. A344, www.aanda.org\/articles\/aa\/full_html\/2026\/02\/aa57857-25\/aa57857-25.html, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1051\/0004-6361\/202557857<\/a>. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n

X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/CfA\/\u00c1 Bogd\u00e1n; Infrared (JWST): NASA\/ESA\/CSA\/STScI; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/P. Edmonds and L. Frattare. “Chandra :: Photo Album :: JADES-ID1 :: January 28, 2026.” Harvard.edu, 28 Jan. 2026, chandra.harvard.edu\/photo\/2026\/protoc\/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n