VENUS: A Strongly Lensed Clumpy Galaxy at z ∼ 11–12 Behind the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0257.1-2325

@article{nakane2026venus,
  title = {{VENUS: A Strongly Lensed Clumpy Galaxy at z ∼ 11–12 Behind the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0257.1-2325}},
  author = {Minami Nakane and Vasily Kokorev and Seiji Fujimoto and Masami Ouchi and Derek J. McLeod and Miriam Golubchik and Masamune Oguri and Adi Zitrin and Cecilia Bondestam and Callum T. Donnan and Gabriel Brammer and Steven L. Finkelstein and Chris Willott and Gregor Rihtaršič and Guillaume Desprez and Angela Adamo and Eros Vanzella and Maruša Bradač and Matteo Messa and Hiroto Yanagisawa and Fengwu Sun and Henry C. Ferguson and Ray A. Lucas and Dan Coe and Johan Richard and Abdurro’uf and Hollis B. Akins and Joseph F. V. Allingham and Ricardo O. Amorín and Yoshihisa Asada and Hakim Atek and Franz E. Bauer and Rachel Bezanson and Larry D. Bradley and John Chisholm and Christopher J. Conselice and Pratika Dayal and Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky and Jose M. Diego and Andreas L. Faisst and Gavin Farley and Qinyue Fei and Brenda L. Frye and Yoshinobu Fudamoto and Lukas J. Furtak and Yuichi Harikane and Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao and Yolanda Jiménez-Teja and Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe and Tomokazu Kiyota and Anton M. Koekemoer and Claudia del P. Lagos and Georgios E. Magdis and Ashish Kumar Meena and Lamiya Mowla and Gaël Noirot and Pascal A. Oesch and Yoshiaki Ono and Rafael Ortiz and Richard Pan},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae8d09},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae8d09},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - VENUS: A Strongly Lensed Clumpy Galaxy at z ∼ 11–12 Behind the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0257.1-2325
AU  - Minami Nakane
AU  - Vasily Kokorev
AU  - Seiji Fujimoto
AU  - Masami Ouchi
AU  - Derek J. McLeod
AU  - Miriam Golubchik
AU  - Masamune Oguri
AU  - Adi Zitrin
AU  - Cecilia Bondestam
AU  - Callum T. Donnan
AU  - Gabriel Brammer
AU  - Steven L. Finkelstein
AU  - Chris Willott
AU  - Gregor Rihtaršič
AU  - Guillaume Desprez
AU  - Angela Adamo
AU  - Eros Vanzella
AU  - Maruša Bradač
AU  - Matteo Messa
AU  - Hiroto Yanagisawa
AU  - Fengwu Sun
AU  - Henry C. Ferguson
AU  - Ray A. Lucas
AU  - Dan Coe
AU  - Johan Richard
AU  - Abdurro’uf
AU  - Hollis B. Akins
AU  - Joseph F. V. Allingham
AU  - Ricardo O. Amorín
AU  - Yoshihisa Asada
AU  - Hakim Atek
AU  - Franz E. Bauer
AU  - Rachel Bezanson
AU  - Larry D. Bradley
AU  - John Chisholm
AU  - Christopher J. Conselice
AU  - Pratika Dayal
AU  - Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky
AU  - Jose M. Diego
AU  - Andreas L. Faisst
AU  - Gavin Farley
AU  - Qinyue Fei
AU  - Brenda L. Frye
AU  - Yoshinobu Fudamoto
AU  - Lukas J. Furtak
AU  - Yuichi Harikane
AU  - Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao
AU  - Yolanda Jiménez-Teja
AU  - Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
AU  - Tomokazu Kiyota
AU  - Anton M. Koekemoer
AU  - Claudia del P. Lagos
AU  - Georgios E. Magdis
AU  - Ashish Kumar Meena
AU  - Lamiya Mowla
AU  - Gaël Noirot
AU  - Pascal A. Oesch
AU  - Yoshiaki Ono
AU  - Rafael Ortiz
AU  - Richard Pan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/19
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae8d09
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae8d09
AB  - We present the discovery of a strongly lensed galaxy at z ∼ 11–12, dubbed the “Misty Moons,” identified in the JWST Treasury Survey, Vast Exploration for Nascent, Unexplored Sources. The Misty Moons is gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster MACS J0257.1-2325 at z = 0.505, and has five multiple images suggested by two independent lens models. Two of the five images, ID1 and ID2 ( μ ∼ 20–30), are very bright (F200W∼26 AB mag) and exhibit blue SEDs with prominent Ly α breaks. In the source plane, the Misty Moons is a sub- L * galaxy ( M UV ∼ −18.0 mag) resolved into multiple stellar clumps, each of which has an effective radius of r eff ∼ 10–70 pc and a stellar mass of ∼10 ⁷ M ⊙ . These clumps dominate the stellar mass budget of the Misty Moons (≳80%), similar to other high- z clumps, which suggests a highly clustered mode of star formation in the early Universe, unlike seen in local dwarf galaxies. We convolve the source-plane image with the JWST/NIRCam point-spread function to produce a mock NIRCam image of the Misty Moons without lensing magnification and find that the intrinsic galaxy has a radial surface-brightness profile comparable to those of z ≳ 10 faint galaxies, such as JADES-GS-z13-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, indicating that the Misty Moons represents a typical z ≳ 10 faint galaxy. The Misty Moons, a lensed galaxy with resolved internal structures, provides an ideal laboratory for exploring the early stages of galaxy formation at z ≳ 10.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -