According to James Webb Space Telescope observations that are changing astronomers’ understandings of the early universe, it is possible that the first galaxies formed earlier than previously thought.
The journal now publishes papers by researchers who used the observatory’s powerful capabilities. Astrophysical Journal Letters, Two exceptionally bright photographsBased on data obtained within the first few hours of Webb becoming operational in July, these are extremely distant galaxies.
Astronomers spoke out on Thursday to say that their extraordinary luminosity suggests two interesting possibilities.
First, these galaxies have to be very massive with lots of low-mass star formations like the galaxies we see today. They had to form 100 million years after the first galaxies formed. Big BangIt occurred 13.8 million years ago.
It is 100 million times earlier than the end of the so-called cosmic darkness age. That was when all there was in the universe was gas. dark matter.
Another possibility is that they may be made up of “Population III”, stars which have never been seen but have theorized to only have helium or hydrogen before heavier elements were invented.
These stars burnt so brightly at extreme temperatures that galaxies formed from them would not have to be as big to account Webb’s observations.
Garth Illingworth, University of California at Santa Cruz, stated that “we are seeing such bright and so luminous galaxies at an early time, that it’s really unclear about what is occurring here.”
Webb was expected to have to search a greater volume of space in order to find these galaxies. However, Webb found them quickly.
Jeyhan Kartaltepe of Rochester Institute of Technology said, “It’s kind of surprising that there are so few that formed so quickly.”
Most distant starlight
Both galaxies existed between 450 and 350,000,000 years after the Big Bang.
GLASS-z12 is now the most distant starlight that has ever been seen.
The further distant objects are, the longer it takes their light to reach us. So, to gaze at distant objects is to look into the deep past.
Because these galaxies lie so far from Earth, their light will reach us only when it has been stretched out by the expansion of our universe.
Webb can detect infrared at a higher resolution than any instrument.
Illingworth co-authored the paper GLASS-z12 and told AFP that it would be difficult to disentangle the competing hypotheses. However, he said the Population III idea was more attractive because it doesn’t have to upend existing cosmological models.
Teams are hoping to soon use Webb’s powerful spectrograph instruments – which analyze the light from objects to reveal their detailed properties – to confirm the galaxies’ distance, and better understand their composition.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a ground telescope in northern Chile, might also be able to help in weighing the mass of the two galaxies, which would help decide between the two hypotheses.
Tommaso Treu, University of California at Los Angeles principal investigator for one of the Webb programs, stated that JWST “has opened up a new frontier,” and “brings us closer to understanding what it all began.”
