NASA's James Webb telescope spots six galaxies; Here's why it matters
ET Online and Agencies|
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Far sooner than possible
NASA's James Webb telescope has found six big galaxies that are changing our understanding of the entire universe. The new observations indicate the presence of mature and large, but compact galaxies swarming with stars way sooner than scientists thought was possible.
AP
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Six big galaxies
The telescope sent data that reveals what appear to be six big galaxies as mature as our Milky Way existing about 540 million to 770 million years after the Big Bang explosion that gave birth to the universe 13.8 billion years ago. The universe was roughly 3% of its current age at the time.
AP
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Radically different
"Oh, they are radically different - truly bizarre creatures," said astrophysicist Ivo Labbe of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. "If the Milky Way were a regular-sized average adult, say about 5'9" (1.75 meters) and 160 pounds (70 kg), these would be 1-year-old babies weighing about the same but standing just under 3 inches (7 cm) tall. The early universe is a freak show."
AP
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Not expected at all
"No one expected to find these. These galaxy candidates are simply too evolved for our expectations. They seem to have evolved faster than allowed by our standard models," said said Penn State astrophysicist and study co-author Joel Leja. The galaxies appear to contain mass equivalent to 10 billion to 100 billion times that of our sun. The latter figure is similar to the Milky Way's mass.
AP
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The first stars
Astronomers suspect the first stars began forming 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang, each perhaps 1,000 more massive than our sun but much shorter-lived. "Their explosion set off the chain of events that formed subsequent generations of stars," Labbe said.
AP
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Webb continues to surprise
"Webb continues to amaze and surprise us," Labbe added. "So yes, the early universe was a lot richer and lot more diverse - monsters and dragons. And the curtain is still being lifted."
