New discoveries from the Webb Telescope. Large, distant Galaxies
The James Webb Space Telescope has facilitated the discovery of the second and fourth furthest galaxies from Earth. Researchers have confirmed that these are larger than typical galaxies found at such an immense distance from our planet.
1:39 PM EST, November 14, 2023
Scientists from Pennsylvania State University in the USA confirmed the existence of these galaxies. The discovery was made possible through observations using the James Webb Space Telescope. Intriguingly, these remote objects appear much larger than the typical galaxies commonly observed at such distances.
International astronomers used deep-field images from a galaxy cluster area known as Pandora, obtained through the James Webb Telescope. With the help of spectroscopic data, they were able to ascertain the distances to these remote galaxies and identify their properties.
Typically, galaxies visible at such far distances appear no larger than red dots. However, the galaxies discovered this time are considerably sizeable - metaphorically described by the discoverers as comparable to peanuts or fluffy balls.
Researchers estimate that the light emitted by these two galaxies embarked on its journey when the universe was only approximately 330 million years old. This light has been traveling towards us for about 13.4 billion years. During this time, the universe has substantially expanded, pushing these objects to an actual current distance of about 204.6 billion trillion miles.
Before this, only three galaxies were acknowledged to be this distant. However, the newly discovered galaxies exceed the size of those previously found. One of them is nearly six times larger and spans around 11.7 trillion miles. Compared to the scale of the modern Universe, where, for instance, the Milky Way measures 587.9 trillion miles, this might seem insignificant. It's key to remember though that the universe, in its early existence, was considerably smaller than it is today.
These two record-setting discoveries are among 60,000 light sources in the Pandora Cluster, captured in a photo from the Webb Telescope. After several months of analysis, the UNCOVER research team shortlisted 700 potential candidates for further investigation. From these, eight appeared to be probable candidates as the universe's first galaxies.
The telescope was then repositioned onto the Pandora Cluster to gather spectra of the selected objects. For one of them, it turned out to be a closer galaxy, while several others gave indeterminate results. However, in two instances, the scientists actually identified some of the furthest known galaxies.
Researchers highlight that the Webb Telescope's capabilities, combined with the galaxy cluster's gravitational lensing, should allow for observations of even more distant galaxies. The absence of discoveries might indicate that perhaps they had not yet formed at that time. Alternatively, the researchers may have simply been unfortunate, with no additional galaxies yet present in this delimited area. The findings were published on November 13 in "The Astrophysical Journal Letters."
