A new record has been achieved in the field of astronomy: observations with the James Webb Space Telescope They have found the farthest known galaxywhich would have existed less than 300 million years ago after the Big Bang.
The image obtained, which was taken in January of this year by the NIRCAM (near infrared camera) for the deep extragalactic study James Webb’s advanced research, revealed data that was used to determine which galaxies to study most closely. spectroscopic observations.
Thus, one such galaxy, JADES-GS-Z14-0 (shown magnified), was determined at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), breaking the previous record of 13.2. And if that were not enough, astronomers have observed that it is an intrinsically very luminous galaxy, which undoubtedly raises the scientific interest of the discovery.
WHAT IS JADES-GS-Z14-0, THE FARSTEST GALAXY ON RECORD?
From the images, it has been discovered that the source It is more than 1,600 light years in diametershowing that the light we see comes mainly from young stars and not from emissions close to a supermassive black hole growing.
“So much starlight implies that the galaxy is several hundred million times the mass of the Sun! This begs the question: How can nature create such a large, massive and bright galaxy in less than 300 million years?“, ask Stefano Carniani of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, and Kevin Hainline of the University of Arizona in Tucson, authors of the new research, in a NASA statement.
With the data obtained, astronomers affirm that JADES-GS-z14-0 is not like the types of galaxies that theoretical models and computer simulations have predicted regarding the early universe. “Given the observed brightness of the source, we can predict how it might grow over cosmic time, and so far we have not found any suitable analogue of the hundreds of other galaxies that we have observed at high redshift in our study,” they emphasize.
JAMES WEBB’s good streak
The discovery occurred within the framework of a prolific moment for James Webb. And in recent days, this NASA telescope has made other discoveries that are worth highlighting, such as the mapping of the Orion Nebula in depth, or the detection of a black hole merger in the most distant universe.
James Webb detects a merger of galaxies and their black holes
In the first case, an international consortium of 120 scientists pointed the Webb space telescope at the Orion Bar, deep in the Nebula, and collected a treasure trove of images and spectroscopic data that “will serve as a reference point for astrophysical research in the coming decades,” the researchers noted.
And regarding the merger of black holes, also detected in May 2024, it is about the most distant ever obtained and the first time this phenomenon has been identified so early in the Universe, showing that massive black holes have been shaping the evolution of galaxies since the beginning of time.
With all this, the discovery of JADES-GS-z14-0, the most distant galaxy known, constitutes another example of the technological power of James Webba tool with which astronomers hope to find many of these luminous galaxies during the next decade.
