COSMOS-Web
From our tiny part of space, it can be hard to image exactly how much is out there beyond the reaches of our solar system.
But in reality, our Earth is just a tiny part of our solar system, itself just one tiny part of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
In fact, our solar system sits on one small branch arm of the Milky Way, known as the Orion Spur, roughly half way between the centre and the edge of the spiral-shaped galaxy.
So if we are just a tiny part of one galaxy, located in a miniscule part of space, what lies beyond?
Thanks to new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we are closer to understanding this than ever before.
NASA
According to a new paper submitted to the Open Journal of Astrophysics, the JWST may just have spotted the furthest away galaxy ever identified.
In fact, the galaxy, which researchers have named MoM-z14, is estimated to be situated around 280 million years after the Big Bang.
Given our own Milky Way is thought to have formed early in cosmic time, just 800 million years after the Big Bang, this discovery is really quite something.
And it was visible to the JSWT because it is incredibly bright, with its light travelling for over 13.5 billion years to be captured by the telescope’s incredible power.
But it is the incredible amount of information that scientists have been able to garner about the galaxy, from such an unimaginable distance away, that tells us the most fascinating things about this distant, early universe.
Pexels
In particular, the researchers highlight the brightness of the galaxy, as well as the elements it contains, as notable.
Specifically, the paper highlights the abundance of nitrogen in the galaxy as both proving that its early stars have died, with new ones appearing in their wake, proving the galaxy’s maturity and giving fascinating detail about the way in which ancient galaxies form:
“The nitrogen emission and highly super-solar hint at an abundance pattern similar to local globular clusters that may have once hosted luminous supermassive stars. Since this abundance pattern is also common among the most ancient stars born in the Milky Way, we may be directly witnessing the formation of such stars in dense clusters, connecting galaxy evolution across the entire sweep of cosmic time.”
Though the galaxy is astounding, it is relatively small.
But this doesn’t make it any less special, with this new understanding of its composition helping to rewrite what we know about the formation and maturity of early galaxies, and fascinate those who pause to think about just how large our universe truly is.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.
Categories: NATURE/SPACE, SCI/TECH
Tags: · big bang, COSMOS-Web, distant galaxy, galaxy, galaxy formation, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, milky way, MoM-z14, science, single topic, space, top, universe