The first galaxies may have formed earlier than expected

the first galaxies It may have formed earlier than astronomers previously thought, according to early observations of the new James Webb Space Telescopewhich in just a few months has shaken up scientific understanding of the universe. “Somehow the universe managed to form galaxies faster and earlier than we thought.”said Tommaso Treo, a professor of astronomy at the University of California at a news conference Thursday. One of the main tasks of the James Webb Telescope, which is in its fifth month of observations, is to study the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang, which occurred 13.8 billion years ago.

“huge” galaxies

Based on the cosmological models that were developed, scientists thought so “It will take time” Astrophysicist Cihan Kartaltepe said to find them. However, in just a few months, James Webb has already identified several new, young galaxies, including one that existed only 350 million years after the Big Bang – 50 million years less than the previous record. “It’s a surprise that there are so many who are formed so early.”Jeyhan Kartaltepe commented. Besides their number, scientists were struck by one thing: their high luminosity.

“We immediately conclude that they are massive, and this raises a real mystery: How did they manage to form so many stars in such a short time?”, summarized by Garth Illingworth, UC Santa Cruz. to be able to do this, These galaxies were supposed to start forming perhaps only 100 million years after the Big Bang.It is to explain. “Nobody would have believed that the Dark Ages would end so soon.” An alternative hypothesis might be that these galaxies actually harbor so-called 3 stars, which are very different from the ones we know. These first stars, unusually bright, were so far only theoretical, not observed.

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The amazing capabilities of the James Webb Telescope have also revealed the appearance of some of these galaxies. “Our team was shocked to be able to measure the shape of these early galaxies.”Erica Nelson, of the University of Colorado, explained in a NASA press release. “Their quiet, orderly disks challenge our understanding of how the first galaxies formed in a chaotic, chaotic universe.” The exact distance of these young galaxies – including the record-breaking ones – should be confirmed in the future thanks to spectral analyses, also done with James Webb. But anyway, thanks to this new observatory, “We are really on track to realize this dream of understanding early galaxies.”Garth Illingworth marveled.

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