The James Webb Space Telescope continues to throw up surprises, and recently it has been used to spot some very old galaxies which have astonished astronomers. The galaxy candidates are far more massive than anyone expected would be possible, challenging assumptions about the early universe.
An international team of astronomers spotted six potential galaxies in a region of space close to the Big Dipper constellation from just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was still in its infancy. “These objects are way more massive than anyone expected,” said one of the researchers, Joel Leja of Penn State. “We expected only to find tiny, young, baby galaxies at this point in time, but we’ve discovered galaxies as mature as our own in what was previously understood to be the dawn of the universe.”
The galaxies appear to contain almost as many stars as our modern-day Milky Way but are much more compact. The researchers stress that they need more data to confirm whether these galaxies definitely are as old as they seem, but if so they could have a profound impact on the way we understand the early universe.
“It’s bananas,” said Erica Nelson of CU Boulder, another of the researchers. “You just don’t expect the early universe to be able to organize itself that quickly. These galaxies should not have had time to form.”
It’s possible that some of the objects could turn out to be supermassive black holes or quasars, but the researchers think they are more likely to be galaxies. “If even one of these galaxies is real, it will push against the limits of our understanding of cosmology,” Nelson said.
The issue is that current models of cosmology posit that early galaxies should be very small, only growing larger over a long period of time.
“We looked into the very early universe for the first time and had no idea what we were going to find,” Leja said. “It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science. It calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question.”
The research is published in the journal Nature.
Editors’ Recommendations
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would certainly benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Cheers!
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
I’m impressed, I have to say. Actually rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me let you know, you’ve gotten hit the nail on the head. Your thought is outstanding; the problem is something that not enough individuals are speaking intelligently about. I am very glad that I stumbled across this in my search for one thing regarding this.
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.