The James Webb Space Telescope continues to help scientists explore the Universe. He recently discovered six
What is known
Scientists suggest that the first galaxiesappeared several hundred million years after the Big Bang. But they must all be small. However, James Webb discovered six massive 13 billion year old galaxies at once.
The space telescope has found galaxies thathave masses equal to hundreds of billions of solar masses. They formed 500-800 million years after the Big Bang, and some have about as many stars as the Milky Way. Accordingly, now they are 2.5-2.8 billion years old.
The discovery was made as part of the CEERS program,which deals with the study of the early universe. This was told by Ivo Labbé and his colleagues in the journal Nature. Initially, scientists thought that they had made a mistake, since the total mass of six galaxies exceeded the mass of the Universe at that time.
The galaxies discovered by the telescope are differentcompact dimensions. With almost the same number of stars and mass (1.5 trillion solar masses), new galaxies are 30 times more compact than the Milky Way. At the same time, the Milky Way annually forms, on average, no more than two new stars. If the data of scientists are correct, then massive galaxies created hundreds of new stars every year. At the same time, calculations indicate that they would not have had enough material for this.
Now the scientists must check the results of theirresearch. They want to get spectral images that can confirm or disprove the gigantic mass of galaxies. At the same time, scientists admit that the cause of such results may be supermassive black holes, which mankind has not previously encountered.