The distant galaxy Jades-GS-Z13-1-La appears as a red dot in this image of the James Webb space telescope
ESA / Webbb, NASA & CSA, Jades Collaboration, J. WITTTOK, P. JAKOBSEN, M. ZAMANI
A galaxy found at the dawn of the universe seems to be the first known proof of Cosmic reionization, The period when the universe was on for the first time.
After the Big Bang, the early universe was filled with hot hydrogen and gas helium which dispersed the photons, which makes the cosmos somewhat opaque. During the hundreds of millions of years following, while the stars began to shine, their light ionized hydrogen and helium, allowing photons to flow freely and make the universe transparent, although the exact moment of this is uncertain.
Joris knows at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and his colleagues used the James Webb space telescope (JWST) To study a galaxy called Jades-GS-Z13-1-La. The galaxy is seen 330 million years after the Big Bang, which makes it one of the first known galaxies of the universe.
The ultraviolet light of the galaxy suggests that it was surrounded by a bubble of around 200,000 light years directed, which could be the result of its light star interacting with the surrounding cosmic hydrogen. Seeing evidence of this so early in the universe is “beyond even our wildest expectations,” explains Witstok.
Michele thirty At the University of Melbourne is appropriate that observations conform to the cosmic re -recovery process. “It's both surprising and exciting,” says thirty. “I would not expect the ultraviolet light emitted by this galaxy to reach JWST. Neutral gas hydrogen in the cold we expected would have surrounded the galaxy should have blocked the photons. We are witnessing the start of the reionization. “
The nature of the small galaxy itself is not entirely clear; It could shine brilliantly because of a population of hot and young massive stars, or a powerful central black hole. “This would be the first known proof of a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy,” said thirty.
While astronomers have seen other subsequent galaxies with a similar bubble around them, Jades-GS-Z13-1-La is the first known example. “It's a reference,” says Richard Ellis at College University in London. “He tells us that this galaxy must have been there for a long time and pushes this little further at the beginning when the galaxies emerged for the first time from the dark.”
JWST could only discover the secrets of this galaxy by looking at him for a relatively long period, about 19 hours. Witstok hopes that we could soon see other early evidence of cosmic reionization. “We have a few other candidates,” he said. “We could find him even further (back in time), or maybe it is the most extreme he gets.”
Spend a weekend with some of the most brilliant spirits in science, while you explore the mysteries of the universe in an exciting program that includes an excursion to see the emblematic Lovell telescope.
Mysteries of the universe: Cheshire, England
