The Webb Telescope captures the most distant galaxies ever seen
from NASA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the most distant galaxies ever discovered, some of which date back just 300 million years after the universe was created in the Big Bang, a time when the cosmos was only two percent of its age current
The primordial galaxies were found by an international team of scientists who were responsible for designing two of the JWST’s cutting-edge instruments. The first instrument, known as the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), was tasked with observing a small portion of the night sky in the constellation Fornax.
Over the course of 10 days, NIRCam observed the light emitted from a population of nearly 100,000 galaxies over a range of nine infrared wavelengths. From this data set, the astronomers isolated 250 of the fainter, redder galaxies and targeted them with another of JWST’s instruments: the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec).
NIRSpec is designed to collect the light emitted by celestial bodies and break it down into its constituent colors. This process creates rainbow-like graphics called spectra. Astronomers can analyze the spectra of a galaxy to discover everything from its elemental composition, to the number of stars within it, and even its distance from Earth.
The latter is done by measuring a phenomenon known as redshift. Light emitted by very distant galaxies can take billions of years to reach our planet. During this time, the wavelengths of this light stretch and become longer, slowly moving into the “redder” part of the light spectrum.
As light travels to Earth from its source, it will inevitably pass through large clouds of interstellar gas and dust. These clouds are known to absorb certain wavelengths of light, while allowing others to pass relatively unhindered. This interference creates a distinct pattern in the rainbow spectrum.
(Credits: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Rolf A. Jansen (ASU), Jake Summers (ASU), Rosalia O’Brien (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), IMAGE PROCESSING: Rolf A. Jansen (ASU ), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)) Aaron Robotham (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Christopher Willmer (University of Arizona), JWST PEARLS Team.
Scientists were able to figure out the age and distance of distant galaxies by looking at how far the patterns in the spectra had changed from their expected positions as a result of redshift.
Using this technique, scientists discovered four phenomenally old galaxies hidden within the JWST data, which are believed to have formed just 300 million years after the universe was created in the Big Bang. This makes them 100 million years younger than the oldest galaxy discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.
This means that the light detected by JWST left its source approximately 13.4 billion years ago, at a time when the universe was only 2% of its current age. The record ages of the galaxies will make them invaluable to scientists trying to unlock the evolutionary secrets of the early cosmos.
“It is difficult to understand galaxies without understanding the early periods of their development,” explained astronomer Sandro Tacchella of the University of Cambridge, who co-authored a study describing the results (via the University of Arizona). “As with humans, much of what happens next depends on the impact of these first generations of stars.”
“There are so many questions about galaxies waiting for Webb’s transformative opportunity, and we’re thrilled to be able to play a part in the unfolding of that story.”
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Image credit: Northrop Grumman.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video game news for IGN. He has more than eight years of experience covering groundbreaking developments in multiple scientific fields and has no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
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