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<\/a><\/p>\nThese Webb images show massive galaxies studied by Cheng et al. Image credit: Chloe Cheng.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese galaxies are different,\u201d said study co-author Dr. Joel Leja, an astronomer at Penn State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re different in the way that is really challenging to understand, because they are more massive than we expected \u2014 like a lot more massive, they have three or four times more mass than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the study, Dr. Leja and colleagues analyzed detailed spectra of nine massive, mature galaxies that ceased forming stars billions of years ago in the early Universe.<\/p>\n
They found these galaxies hide a far larger population of small, faint, low-mass stars than assumed, meaning the systems are actually 3-4 times more massive than previous estimates suggested.<\/p>\n
This overturns the standard assumption that stars form in similar size distributions everywhere, and it deepens the puzzle of how such enormous galaxies assembled so quickly after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n
It also hints that more low-mass stars \u2014 and potentially more planets \u2014 may have formed in the early cosmos than thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a galaxy were a city, the brightest stars would be the skyscrapers that immediately catch your eye from afar,\u201d said study lead author Chloe Cheng, a doctoral graduate at Leiden University.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur models demonstrate that a far more numerous population of low-mass stars is concealed by those rare, bright stars, like houses hidden between skyscrapers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, this galaxy turns out to be much more massive than previous estimates suggested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil recently, measurements like these were simply impossible,\u201d said study co-author Martje Slob, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed not only a telescope capable of magnifying very distant galaxies, but also spectra of exceptional quality and new analysis techniques to reliably detect the subtle signatures of faint, low-mass stars hidden within these cosmic titans.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the team, this discovery has crucial implications for our understanding of the early Universe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis result shows that much more mass than previously thought is hidden in low-mass stars,\u201d said Leiden Observatory\u2019s Professor Mariska Kriek, co-author of the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has consequences for many areas of astronomy. For example, as many planets orbit low-mass stars, this could even indicate that more planets formed in the early Universe than we had previously assumed.\u201d<\/p>\n