The James Webb Telescope discovers the most distant galaxy ever recorded | Science and health

According to the US space agency, previous information collected by the equipment provided evidence of primordial galaxies. Now these targets have been confirmed by obtaining spectral observations, revealing distinct patterns in the fingerprints of light coming from the sites.

“It was necessary to prove that these galaxies did, in fact, inhabit the early universe. It is very likely that nearby galaxies are masquerading as very distant galaxies,” said astronomer and co-author Emma Curtis Lake of the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. “Seeing the spectrum unfold as we expected, confirming that these galaxies are at the true edge of our view, and some are farther away than Hubble can see. It’s a very exciting accomplishment of the mission.”

the gate Science alert He notes that being able to look into the early universe was one of the greatest hopes pinned on the JWST. After all, man’s understanding of the first billion years after the Big Bang is very limited, and finding larger and older objects can help shed light on this crucial moment of formation. galaxies.

Currently, there are models that describe how events unfolded after the Big Bang that formed the universe. As the report reports, what is believed to be that before the first stars were born, the universe was filled with dark matter, particles that gradually combine to form neutral hydrogen.

+ James Webb Telescope: the amazing images of the ‘Pillars of Creation’
+ James Webb depicts galaxies at the dawn of the universe

As stars began to form, they ionized hydrogen and glowed light. This process was completed about a billion years after the birth of the universe.

“The light from these objects is very faint, having traveled very far. Because of the expansion of the universe, it has been greatly stretched toward the longer red end of the spectrum, a phenomenon known as redshift.” Science alert🇧🇷

JWST is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space and specializes in the infrared and near infrared – designed to detect this red-shifted light to the best of our ability. To get a reliable redshift, the light needs to be broken down into its component wavelengths, a technique known as spectroscopy.

In the case of the current discovery, a team of researchers split the telescope’s NIRCam light into nine wavelength bands, focusing on four high-redshift galaxies, two of which were first identified by Hubble.

The new data confirms that these two galaxies are indeed among the most distant galaxies detected to date – those detected by Hubble with redshifts of 10.38 and 11.58, and those detected by JWST of 12.63 and 13.20. Other candidates with higher redshifts are currently under investigation but not yet confirmed.