For the first time, 6 objects from the ancient universe have been revealed to Earthlings through the ultra-clear lens of the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space telescope in the world.
These are 6 galaxies from the primordial universe, existing around 10 billion years ago, and they may have been completely destroyed or are merely “dry husks” in the present.
According to Sci-News, a research team led by Professor Shardha Jogee from the University of Texas at Austin (USA) has scoured the vast data set sent back by the James Webb Space Telescope and simultaneously identified 6 unknown cosmic monsters – these brilliant galaxies belong to an ancient world, when the universe was only about 25% of its current age.
6 ancient cosmic monsters – galaxies retaining the original structures of the evolutionary process – (Image: NASA/ESA/CSA).
These galaxies are located 8.4 to 11 billion light-years away from Earth, making them some of the farthest objects humanity has ever observed, appearing very clear and bright in images from James Webb, indicating they were observed during their “youth.”
The distance of 8.4-11 billion light-years also means that the light took that long to reach Earth, so what we see is a “time-traveling” image from the past rather than their current appearance.
It is highly likely that many of these objects no longer exist, or they have long ceased star formation and have become a “dry husk,” a ghostly and hazy shadow like some “haunted galaxies” that have been observed in closer regions of space.
The images are so sharp that scientists have even discovered “star bars” – elongated structures created by stars, stretching from the center of the galaxy to its outer disk.
“Star bars play a central role in the evolutionary process of galaxies by efficiently redistributing mass and momentum, directing gas flows into the central regions of galaxies through torques and gravitational shocks,” Professor Jogee explained.
These star bars act like express trains transporting raw fuel to the center of the galaxy, facilitating the formation of new stars at a rate 10 to 100 times faster than the rest of the galaxy, while also helping to form and nourish supermassive black holes at the galaxy’s core.
The scientists filtered these 6 bright cosmic monsters from 348 potential primordial objects in the James Webb data set. Some have been found by the older Hubble telescope, which is over 30 years old; however, it could not detect the star bars due to its significantly lower observational capability compared to James Webb.
The James Webb Space Telescope is primarily operated by NASA, with operational support from two European and Canadian space agencies, ESA and CSA.
This discovery is said to “shake up” the scenarios of galaxy evolution and also suggests what may have happened billions of years ago to vibrant and massive galaxies like the Milky Way, which contains Earth.
The research was recently published in the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
