Apr 07, 2023 12:30:00

The James Webb Space Telescope discovered the oldest galaxy in observation history, the possibility that it was born just 320 million years after the Big Bang

NASA's central infrared space telescope

, the James Webb Space Telescope , has discovered four of the oldest galaxies ever observed. The galaxies discovered this time are thought to have formed in the early stages of the universe, just 300 to 500 million years after the Big Bang .

Spectroscopic confirmation of four metal-poor galaxies at z = 10.3–13.2 | Nature Astronomy
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01918-w

JWST Captures Details of The Four Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen : ScienceAlert

https://www.sciencealert.com/jwst-captures-details-of-the-four-most-distant-galaxies-ever-seen

James Webb telescope discovers the 4 oldest galaxies in the universe, born just 300 million years after the Big Bang | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/james-webb-telescope-discovers-the-4-oldest-galaxies-in-the-universe-born-just-300-million-years-after-the-big-bang

The James Webb Space Telescope, developed as a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope , was launched in December 2021, and observations using the main sensor began in July 2022. The James Webb Space Telescope is showing various activities in space research, such as taking overwhelmingly high-precision pictures of the universe compared to the previous generation and observing the coldest ice in the universe.

James Webb Space Telescope observes ``the coldest ice in the universe''-GIGAZINE

In a paper published in Nature Astronomy , an academic journal specializing in astronomy and astrophysics on April 4, 2023, ``The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered the four most distant galaxies ever observed. discovered, and one of them formed in the early universe just 320 million years after the Big Bang.'

The discovery of these galaxies was reported by NASA on December 9, 2022 before peer review of the paper. The publication of this paper in a peer-reviewed academic journal officially recognizes the research results of JADES , which developed the NIRCam for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Clearly that the oldest ``13.4 billion year old galaxy'' in observation history could be photographed with the James Webb Space Telescope - GIGAZINE

Astronomers measure how far apart galaxies are using a measure called redshift . The higher the redshift value, the farther away the celestial body is from the earth, and in the pictures taken using the NIRCam of the James Webb Space Telescope this time, the redshift is '13.20' '12.63' ' 11.58' and '10.38' galaxies were observed. The galaxy called 'JADES-GS-z13-0' with a redshift of '13.20' is said to be the most distant galaxy in observation history, about 13 billion light years away from the earth.

In addition, these galaxies are said to have been born only 300 to 500 million years after the Big Bang that occurred about 13.8 billion years ago. said to have been formed. When these galaxies were born, it is thought that `

`cosmic reionization '' occurred, in which the strong light of stars deprived hydrogen and helium of electrons, ionizing the surrounding gas.

``The four galaxies discovered this time have very low mass,'' said research team Stephen Charlotte. According to Charlotte, these galaxies weigh about 100 million solar masses . On the other hand, the mass of the Milky Way galaxy to which the solar system belongs is said to be 1.5 trillion solar mass.

But these galaxies are thought to be forming stars at about the same rate as the Milky Way, which Charlotte says is 'surprisingly fast for a galaxy in the early universe.'

Also, it is thought that heavy elements did not exist yet when these galaxies were formed, and the galaxies discovered this time are said to be composed of simple elements such as hydrogen and helium atoms.