The James Webb Space Telescope, one of the most advanced telescopes ever built, is allowing astronomers to explore the early universe like never before.
It’s helping us see galaxies from billions of years ago, close to the time we think the first galaxies were being born, unraveling the secrets of how galaxies, stars, and elements formed.
The story of the universe’s first galaxies
Galaxies are gigantic families of stars and gases, and the universe is full of them. When we look at distant galaxies, we are actually looking back in time.
This is because the light from those galaxies takes a very long time to reach us. It helps us to understand the life stories of galaxies throughout the universe’s history.
In the last 12 billion years, which is five-sixths of the universe’s age, galaxies seem to have followed a set pattern in how they form stars and elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
These “heavy elements” include things like carbon and oxygen, which were created by stars. This pattern, or relation, was thought to be a fundamental part of galaxy evolution. However, with the James Webb Telescope, we’re learning new, surprising things about the first galaxies.
Peeking deeper into space and time
James Webb’s advanced technology lets us peer deeper into space and look at light that’s traveled for such a long time it has shifted to the infrared part of the spectrum.
With this, astronomers have been able to observe galaxies that are farther away, and therefore older, than any we’ve seen before, breaking its own records multiple times.
A study led by a team from the Cosmic Dawn Center in Copenhagen reveals some of these distant galaxies seem to be just forming.
They’ve discovered that these early galaxies have about four times fewer heavy elements than we expected, based on what we know from younger galaxies. This is significant as it challenges our previous understanding and models of how galaxies evolved.
Gaining insights into galaxy formation
According to scientists, this discovery is likely because these galaxies are still in the early stages of their lives. Gravity has started pulling gas together to form stars in these galaxies.
If left undisturbed, these stars would enrich the galaxies with heavy elements. However, there seems to be lots of fresh, “clean” gas between the galaxies at that time, moving to the galaxies faster than the stars can enrich them.
The early galaxies seem to have a closer connection with the surrounding gas than previously thought, offering fresh insights into the earliest stages of galaxy formation. This is one of the first times astronomers have been able to study the first galaxies with such detail, thanks to the launch of James Webb.
The new discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope are only the beginning, and scientists are eager to see what more comprehensive observations will reveal about the formation of galaxies and other structures in the early universe.
The findings from this telescope are helping us to piece together the cosmic puzzle of how galaxies began their formation after the Big Bang, providing a clearer and richer understanding of our universe’s fascinating history.
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