The paper is released in Science, one of the worlds top peer-reviewed scholastic journals.
The University of Minnesota scientists were one of the first strings to study a remote galaxy using the James Webb Space Telescope, and their findings will be among the very first published.
” This galaxy is far beyond the reach of all telescopes except the James Webb, and these first-of-their-kind observations of the distant galaxy are spectacular,” said Patrick Kelly, senior author of the paper and an assistant teacher in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy. “Here, were able to see many of the way back to the Big Bang, and weve never looked at galaxies when the universe was this young in this level of detail. The galaxys volume is approximately a millionth of the Milky Ways, however we can see that its still forming the very same numbers of stars each year.”
As soon as, the James Webb telescope can observe a broad adequate field to image a whole galaxy cluster at. The researchers had the ability to find and study this new, small galaxy because of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing– where mass, such as that in a galaxy or galaxy cluster, flexes and magnifies light. If the cluster were not amplifying its light, a galaxy cluster lens caused this small background galaxy to appear 20 times brighter than it would.
The researchers then utilized spectroscopy to measure how far away the galaxy was, in addition to a few of its chemical and physical residential or commercial properties. Studying galaxies that existed when deep space was this much younger can help scientists get closer to addressing a huge concern in astronomy relating to how the Universe ended up being reionized..
” The galaxies that existed when the Universe was in its infancy are extremely various from what we see in the neighboring Universe now,” discussed Hayley Williams, very first author on the paper and a Ph.D. student at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics. “This discovery can help us find out more about the attributes of those very first galaxies, how they vary from neighboring galaxies, and how the earlier galaxies formed.”.
The James Webb telescope can gather about 10 times as much light as the Hubble Space Telescope and is far more delicate at redder, longer wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. This enables scientists to access an entirely new window of data, the researchers stated.
” The James Webb Space Telescope has this incredible capability to see incredibly far into the universe,” Williams stated. Were seeing things that previous telescopes would have ever been able to catch.
For more on this research study, see Webb Unveils Physical Properties of Compact Galaxy From the Early Universe.
Referral: “An amplified compact galaxy at redshift 9.51 with strong nebular emission lines” 13 April 2023, Science.DOI: 10.1126/ science.adf5307.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA through the Space Telescope Science Institute, with additional funding from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Spanish State Research Agency.
In addition to Williams and Kelly, the research study team consisted of University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy postdoctoral scientist Wenlei Chen, Professor Claudia Scarlata, Ph.D. trainee Yu-Heng Lin, and college student Noah Rogers; University of Copenhagen researchers Gabriel Brammer, Jens Hjorth, and Danial Langeroodi; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Associate Professor Adi Zitrin; University of California Los Angeles faculty member Tomasso Treu; Space Telescope Science Institute researchers Anton Koekemoer, Lou Strolger, and Justin Pierel; Chiba University professor Masamune Oguri; University of Cantebria researcher Jose Diego; Astronomical Observatory of Trieste researcher Mario Nonino; University of the Basque Country Professor Tom Broadhurst; University of La Laguna researchers Ismael Perez-Fournon and Frederick Poidevin; University of California Santa Cruz Assistant Professor Ryan Foley; Rutgers University Professor Saurabh Jha; University of California Berkeley Professor Alexei Filippenko; and University of Tokyo postdoctoral researcher Lilan Yang.
A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team looked more than 13 billion years into the past to find an unique, tiny galaxy that could help astronomers discover more about galaxies that were present shortly after the Big Bang. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & & CSA, P. Kelly
Galaxy is the smallest ever found at this range– around 500 million years after the Big Bang.
Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope found a small galaxy 13 billion years in the past that produced new stars at a high rate for its size. The groundbreaking discovery might help scientists find out about the early universe and the development of the first galaxies.
Using first-of-their-kind observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, a University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team looked more than 13 billion years into the past to find a distinct, small galaxy that produced new stars at an exceptionally high rate for its size. The galaxy is among the smallest ever discovered at this distance– around 500 million years after the Big Bang– and might help astronomers discover more about galaxies that existed quickly after the Universe originated.
” This galaxy is far beyond the reach of all telescopes except the James Webb, and these first-of-their-kind observations of the remote galaxy are amazing,” stated Patrick Kelly, senior author of the paper and an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy. “Here, were able to see most of the way back to the Big Bang, and weve never ever looked at galaxies when the universe was this young in this level of information. The James Webb telescope can observe a wide enough field to image an entire galaxy cluster at when. The scientists were able to discover and study this new, tiny galaxy since of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing– where mass, such as that in a galaxy or galaxy cluster, flexes and magnifies light. A galaxy cluster lens triggered this small background galaxy to appear 20 times brighter than it would if the cluster were not amplifying its light.
