James Webb monitors the most distant galaxy in the universe

It was formed in the early ages of the universe, just 320 million years after the Big Bang. The most distant galaxy ever detected has been spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope, according to it Two studies Posted Tuesday, April 4th in natural astronomy.

The more distant the galaxies are, and therefore the younger, the more difficult it is to detect them due to the weaker optical signal. The first surveys of the James Webb Telescope (JWST), in service since July 2022, have identified many galaxies “candidates” In the infrared, a wavelength invisible to the human eye whose observation allows us to travel far back in time.

She confirmed the powerful infrared vision of her NIRCam imager, along with observations in spectroscopy that analyzes the light coming from an object to determine its chemical elements. “without ambiguity” There are four galaxies. They are all located towards the red end of the spectrum, and therefore very far away.

Their age: roughly between 300 and 500 million years after the Big Bang (which occurred 13.8 billion years ago), detail these studies. The Universe was then only 2% of its current age, in the so-called reionization period: after the so-called Dark Ages period, it kind of ignited and began to produce a large number of stars.

The most distant galaxies ejected by JWST, christened JADES-GS-z13-0, may have formed. 320 million years after the Big Bang.Its light is the most distant ever observed by astronomers, explained Stéphane Charlot of the Astrophysical Institute in Paris, one of the study’s authors.

“Powerful technology tour”

The space telescope has also confirmed the existence of the galaxy GN-z11, dating from 450 million years after the Big Bang, whose existence the Hubble telescope detected.

The four galaxies observed are of very low mass – about one hundred million solar masses, compared to, say, 1,500 billion for the Milky Way. But these galaxies “Very active in star formation, in proportion to its mass.”Details of the astrophysicist world.

Star formation will happen there At about the same rate [dans] milky way “Speed “Surprise very early in the universe”, comments this CNRS researcher. Another lesson, these galaxies “Extremely low in minerals”a discovery that aligns with the Standard Model of cosmology: the closer we get to the origins, the less time stars have to form these complex particles.

JWST note is “Powerful technology tour”He welcomes Peter van Dokkum, an astronomer at Yale University, in a comment attached to the study. The telescope is pushed back “Almost every month the frontiers of exploration.”always going further into the universe, he asserts.

Last February, an instrument developed by NASA spotted six galaxies between 500 and 700 million years after the Big Bang, which appear to be much larger than expected. If the existence of these galaxies is confirmed by spectroscopy, this could call into question part of the theory of the formation of the universe.