Webb discovers a 'rich land' of bright galaxies in the early universe

Researchers have discovered two exceptionally bright galaxies that existed approximately 350 and 450 million years later.

after the Big Bang in one of the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. They are unlike modern galaxies.

A few days after the official startScience Operations Webb began transmitting data on the galaxies of the early universe. Now the telescope is exploring the "rich country" of the early universe, which contains the first forming galaxies, according to the European Space Agency.

The galaxy at the top center is extracted fromThe image is on the left and is visible just 450 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxy at the bottom center has been extracted and is visible just 350 million years after the Big Bang. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, T. Treu (UCLA)

Young galaxies turn gas into starsas fast as they can. In pictures, they appear compressed into spherical or disk shapes that are much smaller than the Milky Way (only a few percent of the volume of our galaxy). At the same time, researchers note the amazing brightness of these young galaxies.

Although the distances to these early sources are stillneed to be confirmed by spectroscopy, their extreme brightness is a real mystery that challenges our understanding of galaxy formation.

Pascal Ash, researcher at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, co-author of one of the papers

In photographs of "Webb" outer areasgiant galaxy cluster Abell 2744 captures two of the most distant galaxies observed to date. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years away and magnified by gravitational lensing. Preliminary evidence suggests that they must have formed about 100 million years after the Big Bang.

After analyzing the first data, scientists came toconcluded that there were many more bright galaxies in the early universe than previously thought. The researchers believe this will make it easier for Webb to search for even more early galaxies in future deep space analyses.

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Cover: Artistic illustration of the James Webb Telescope