Astronomers have discovered the oldest galaxy known in the Universe, JADES-GS-z14-0, which challenges our understanding of how early cosmic structures formed.
A team of researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope has captured the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0 in the state it was in less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. Stefano Carniani of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Italy and Kevin Hainlein of the University of Arizona in the US reported that the spectroscopic data clearly confirms the redshift
Redshift is a phenomenon in which the light of distant objects is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum due to the expansion of the Universe. galaxies at a level of 14.32. This makes JADES-GS-z14-0 the most distant object that humanity has ever observed.
Location JADES-GS-z14-0
The galaxy’s size is impressive: its diameter exceeds 1,600 light years. Most of the radiation comes from young stars, not from an active supermassive black center. This indicates that the galaxy’s mass is hundreds of millions of solar masses, which raises the question of how such massive structures can form in such a short cosmological period.
The discovery of JADES-GS-z14-0 forces us to reconsider our understanding of the “Cosmic Dawn” — the first billion years after the Big Bang. Previously, scientists believed that the early Universe was filled with a fog of neutral hydrogen that scattered light. However, new data indicate the presence of large, bright, and well-formed galaxies already in the early stages.
Analysis of light from JADES-GS-z14-0 revealed unexpectedly high levels of dust and oxygen, indicating multiple generations of massive stars that had already lived out their lives and exploded as supernovae. The discovery is prompting scientists to rethink the rate of stellar evolution in the early universe.
Stefano Carniani emphasizes: “JADES-GS-z14-0 becomes the archetype of this phenomenon. It is amazing that the Universe was able to create such a galaxy in just 300 million years.”
Article about the discovery led by Carniani published in the journal Nature. Other papers exploring the properties of galaxy light can be found on arXiv Here and Here.
Let us recall that the James Webb telescope discovered a unique exoplanet near Earth. It is six times heavier than Jupiter.
Giant Space Neighbor: James Webb Telescope Discovers Unique Exoplanet Near Earth
Source: Sciencealert
