Astronomers have confirmed they have found four galaxies that were formed a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
By utilising the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), two teams of astronomers have identified a galaxy that they believe formed over 320 million years after the Big Bang.
The 80-strong team from 10 countries, known as the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), has dubbed the oldest galaxy JADES-GS-Z13-0.
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The astronomical observation took place over 10 days where the teams scanned the deep-field region of space and spotted four ancient galaxies in total.
They believe that the intense redshift surrounding them indicates that all four were created between 320 million to 350 million years after the Big Bang.
These archaic galaxies are thought to have been created when the intergalactic medium was just made up of neutral hydrogen. It is thought that they would have burst into existence when the universe was only 2% of its current age.
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According to Brent Robertson, an astronomer at UC-Santa Cruz, JWST has been specifically used to capture this early galaxy because it is a ‘bigger telescope’ and has a ‘larger mirror’ than the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
The astronomer told Inverse that this “Makes it more sensitive, [than the HST] specially designed in terms of the camera and the coatings of the mirror and the optics to work well in the infrared.”
“To find these galaxies in such stunningly beautiful images is a special experience,” Roberston said in a statement released by the European Space Agency. “We can be absolutely confident of their fantastic distances.”
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About the galaxies astronomer Emma Curtis-Lake said, “It was crucial to prove that these galaxies do, indeed, inhabit the early universe.’
“Seeing the spectrum revealed as we hoped, confirming these galaxies as being at the true edge of our view… is a tremendously exciting achievement for the mission,” she continued.
While these newly-unveiled galaxies are the oldest ones found to date, that doesn’t mean JADES or other astronomer groups are stopping with this discovery.
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“So many questions about galaxies have been waiting for the transformative opportunity of Webb,” says astronomer Sandro Tacchella. “We’re thrilled to be able to play a part in telling this story.”
Time report that JADES has more observing time booked with the JWST. They also apparently intend to continue searching the Hubble Ultra Deep Field for older galaxies than the ones they have just discovered.
Topics: Space, Technology
Ella Scott