Light from two celestial objects formed approximately 13.4 billion years ago has made its way into Earth-based telescopes for the first time.
According to Sci-News, these are two ancient galaxies named GLASS-z12 and GLASS-z10, observed through two programs targeting the earliest regions of the universe: GLASS-JWST and CEERS.
They are located in the area known as the Hubble Frontier Fields Abell 2744 cluster, a group of about 500 ancient galaxies nicknamed “Pandora’s Box” because it has long been identified as a site rich with mysteries from the “infant” stage of the universe, based on preliminary data recorded by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Stunning image released by NASA capturing two fascinating celestial objects, the most distant galaxies ever discovered – (Photo: NASA)
In the new observational missions, scientists utilized a much more detailed dataset from the James Webb Space Telescope, currently the most powerful space telescope operated primarily by NASA with support from ESA and CSA (the European and Canadian space agencies).
At a recent press conference representing the James Webb team at NASA, astronomer Garth Illingworth from the University of California, Santa Cruz, presented an image showing countless galaxies scattered throughout space, with the two ancient galaxies clearly visible.
According to Space, the world’s leading ground-based telescope ALMA was brought in to take a deeper look at the two newly discovered James Webb objects. ALMA’s radio data confirmed that these are indeed galaxies and that their ages are accurately as reported.
The aforementioned galaxy cluster is located about 4 billion light-years away, meaning we are witnessing them not only across vast distances but also transcending 4 billion years of time: it is a younger image from 4 billion years ago, as the light took that long to “reach” Earth.
Dr. Illingworth stated that the discovery of these galaxies has paved the way for a “new game,” helping scientists get closer to confirming the long-held hypothesis that the first stars emerged just 200 million years after the Big Bang, which occurred approximately 13.6 billion years ago.
The Big Bang is estimated to have happened 13.8 billion years ago, meaning the two newly discovered ancient galaxies formed around 13.4 billion years ago.
Details of the findings have been described in two scientific papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on November 17 and 18.
