The James Webb Space Telescope can see light from the universe's earliest eras. Its observations show extremely compact star systems from that time, suggesting collisions between stars were once common, unlike the sparse, well-spaced galaxies we see today.
Today, stars almost never crash into each other because space is so empty. If the early universe packed stars tightly together, it changes how scientists model how the first stars formed, grew, and died — the raw events that seeded the elements planets and people are made of.
✦ The crowded early universe was a rougher place for stars than our quiet cosmic neighborhood.