NASA’s Webb Space Telescope team announced today (Thursday) the discovery of two early galaxies, one of which may contain the most distant starlight ever seen. The galaxies may fundamentally change what we know about the earliest stars. They added: “This A completely new chapter in astronomy.”
Want a closer look? These two galaxies are thought to have existed 350 & 450 million years after the big bang (left to right). Unlike our Milky Way, these first galaxies are small and compact, with spherical or disk shapes rather than grand spirals. pic.twitter.com/gPahYvZUhQ
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) November 17, 2022
The researchers added: “It is estimated that those two galaxies existed 350 and 450 million years after the Big Bang. Unlike the Milky Way, those first galaxies are small and compact, with a spheroid or disc configuration rather than a giant spiral.” The discovery suggests that the stars may have formed earlier than researchers had thought until now.
Yesterday, NASA released a new image from the “James Webb” space telescope. The image shows a record of star formation in its early stages. The image was taken in the Taurus star formation region, which cannot be seen without infrared light.
Documenting the formation of the star, photo: NASA
The young star that was recorded in the process of its formation is in the so-called L1527 cloud, inside the “neck” of the hourglass in the picture. The source of the colors that can be seen is in the layers of dust that are between the telescope camera and the photographed area. The thinnest layer of dust is in the blue colored area.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space on December 25, 2021. It is designed to observe in visible and infrared light. Its first picture was published last March, in which a distant star can be seen. Last month, on the occasion of Halloween, the space agency published an image called “Pillars of Creation”.