{"id":24357,"date":"2023-02-22T17:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T16:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=137635"},"modified":"2023-02-22T17:35:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T16:35:23","slug":"james-webb-space-telescope-has-discovered-evidence-of-massive-ancient-galaxies-that-science-says-shouldnt-exist","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/james-webb-space-telescope-has-discovered-evidence-of-massive-ancient-galaxies-that-science-says-shouldnt-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"James Webb Space Telescope has discovered evidence of massive ancient galaxies that science says shouldn\u2019t exist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The presence of such massive galaxies lurking in the early Universe contradicts current cosmological models. <\/p>

By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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An international team of astrophysicists has found six candidate galaxies hiding in data from the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> (JWST) that are so old and massive they can\u2019t be explained by current cosmological models.<\/p>\n

The galaxies are thought to date back to around 500 million years after the Big Bang<\/a>, more than 13 billion years ago. According to current cosmological models, galaxies at this point in time should be in their infancy and be made up of only a few stars.<\/p>\n

However, all six of the newly discovered candidate galaxies are gigantic and contain a similar number of stars to the modern-day Milky Way, which is much older.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bananas,\u201d said co-researcher Erica Nelson<\/a>, assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder. \u201cYou just don\u2019t expect the early Universe to be able to organise itself that quickly. These galaxies should not have had time to form.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team discovered the candidate galaxies amongst images released by JWST\u2019s recent Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey \u2013 one of the telescope\u2019s initial runs that saw it peering deep into a patch of sky near to the famous Big Dipper constellation.<\/p>\n

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Candidate galaxies found by the James Webb Space Telescope<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 NASA, ESA, CSA, I. Labbe (Swinburne University of Technology). Image processing: G. Brammer (Niels Bohr Institute\u2019s Cosmic Dawn Center at the University of Copenhagen)<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Nelson was poring over the images when a few unusual fuzzy dots caught her eye. The dots were red, an indication that they were from old sources of light<\/a>. This is due to the expansion of the Universe stretching out the light emitted from celestial objects, increasing its wavelengths and making it appear more red.<\/p>\n

After running a number of calculations, the team were able to date the candidate galaxies back to just over 13 billion years ago and determine that they contained tens to hundreds of billions of Sun-sized stars worth of mass. This means that they would\u2019ve had to have formed stars at an astonishing rate due to their short lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Milky Way forms about one to two new stars every year,\u201d said Nelson. \u201cSome of these galaxies would have to be forming hundreds of new stars a year for the entire history of the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team now intend to further study the mysterious cosmic objects using JWST in order to confirm or disprove that they do date so far back in time and contain as many stars as their preliminary observations suggest. However, these initial results offer a tantalising taste of how JWST could already be rewriting astronomy textbooks, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf even one of these galaxies is real, it will push against the limits of our understanding of cosmology,\u201d said Nelson.<\/p>\n

Read more about the James Webb Space Telescope:<\/strong><\/p>\n