{"id":33427,"date":"2024-03-13T09:32:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T22:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/?p=33427"},"modified":"2024-03-13T09:32:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T22:32:04","slug":"jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galaxies and stars developed faster after the Big Bang than expected.<\/h1>\n

Detailed pictures of one of the very first galaxies show growth was much faster than we thought<\/p>\n

An international research team have made unprecedentedly detailed observations of the earliest merger of galaxies ever witnessed. They suggest stars developed much faster and more efficiently than we thought.<\/p>\n

They used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe the massive object as it was 510 million years after the Big Bang \u2013 i.e. around 13 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we conducted these observations, this galaxy was ten times more massive than any other galaxy found that early in the Universe,\u201d says Dr Kit Boyett, an ASTRO 3D Research Fellow on First Galaxies, from the University of Melbourne. He is lead author on a paper published today in Nature Astronomy<\/a><\/i>. The paper has 27 authors from 19 institutions in Australia, Thailand, Italy, the USA, Japan, Denmark and China.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image: JWST shows details of massive galaxy merger 13 billion years ago (insert of another early galaxy shows how significant the new JWST images are).<\/p>\n

\n

JWST, launched in 2021, is enabling astronomers to see the early Universe in ways that were previously impossible. Objects that appeared as single points of light through earlier telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, are revealing their complexity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

“It is amazing to see the power of JWST to provide a detailed view of galaxies at the edge of the observable Universe and therefore back in time” says Prof. Michele Trenti – ASTRO-3D First Galaxies theme leader and University of Melbourne node leader. “This space observatory is transforming our understanding of early galaxy formation” adds Prof. Trenti.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The observations in the current paper show a galaxy consisting of several groups with two components in the main group and a long tail, suggesting an ongoing merger of two galaxies into a larger one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe merger hasn’t finished yet. We can tell this by the fact we still see two components. The long tail is likely produced by some of the matter being cast aside during the merger. When two things merge, they sort of throw away some of the matter. So, this tells us that there’s a merger and this is the most distant merger ever seen,\u201d says Dr Boyett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This and other observations using the JWST is causing astrophysicists to adjust their modelling of the early years of the Universe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWith James Webb we are seeing more objects in the early cosmos than we expect to see, and those objects are more massive than we thought as well,\u201d says Dr Boyett. \u201cOur cosmology isn’t necessarily wrong, but our understanding of how quickly galaxies formed probably is, because they are more massive than we ever believed could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Dr Boyett\u2019s team\u2019s findings show these galaxies were able to accumulate mass so fast by merging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But it is not only the size of the galaxies and the speed with which they grew that surprises Dr Boyett. His paper for the first time describes the population of stars that make up the merging galaxies \u2013 another detail made possible by JWST.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWhen we compared our spectrum analysis with our imaging, we found two different things. The image told us the population of stars was young, but the spectroscopy spoke of stars that are quite old. But it turns out both are correct because we don’t have one population of stars but two,\u201d Dr Boyett says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe old population has been there for a long time and what we believe happens is the merger of the galaxies produces new stars and that’s what we’re seeing in the imaging \u2013 new stars on top of the old population.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Most studies of these very distant objects show very young stars, but this is because the younger stars are brighter and so their light dominates the imaging data. The JWST, however, allows for such detailed observations the two populations can be distinguished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt’s the fact that the spectroscopy is so detailed, we can see the subtle features of the old stars that tell us actually there’s more there than you think,\u201d says Dr Boyett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThis is not all that surprising, we know that over the history of a universe there are peaks of new star formation for various reasons, and that results in multiple populations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cBut it’s the first time we’ve really seen them at this distance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The paper has significant implications for current modelling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cOur simulations can produce an object similar to the one we observed, roughly at the same age of a universe, and roughly the same mass, however, it’s incredibly rare. So rare there’s only one of these in the whole model. The chance of us observing that with our observations, then suggest we either incredibly lucky or our simulations are wrong, and this sort of object is more common than we think,\u201d says Dr Boyett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe thing we think we’re missing is that stars were forming much more efficiently and that may be what we need to change in our models.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study has been published in Nature Astronomy<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Condie (Media Contact for ASTRO 3D)<\/p>\n

Ph: +61 450 952 365 E: bill@scienceinpublic.com.au<\/p>\n

Interviews<\/p>\n

Vanessa Williams (University of Melbourne)<\/p>\n

Ph: +61 422 261 937 E. Vanessa.williams1@unimelb.edu.au<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":33429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,21,2],"tags":[301],"coauthors":[210],"class_list":["post-33427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-galaxies","category-melbourne","category-news","tag-jwst"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ASTRO 3D\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1114\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"856\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Condie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Condie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/\",\"name\":\"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/7c1aa497dff77978dae78be2b4ef07cf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png\",\"width\":1114,\"height\":856},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/\",\"name\":\"ASTRO 3D\",\"description\":\"Unlocking the Universe - Inspiring the Future\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/7c1aa497dff77978dae78be2b4ef07cf\",\"name\":\"Bill Condie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/35b03b6bf0619fe57ee633d985bb58a5\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Science-in-Public-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Science-in-Public-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bill Condie\"},\"description\":\"Bill Condie has been a journalist for more than 35 years, mostly writing and editing for British national newspapers, including The Times, The Guardian, the Observer, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, and the London Evening Standard. His career has been wide-ranging from international affairs, to politics and science. Since returning to Australia he has concentrated on science journalism and writing, first working at Australia\u2019s leading science magazine Cosmos, first as an editor and later as Publisher, then as Head of Publishing at the Royal Institution of Australia. He has also produced written and video content both for traditional media outlets and for researchers, universities and other institutions including Flinders University, Monash University and the University of Adelaide, to help them communicate complex subjects to a wide audience.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/science-in-public-pty-ltd\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/member\/science-in-public\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D","og_url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/","og_site_name":"ASTRO 3D","article_published_time":"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1114,"height":856,"url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Bill Condie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Condie","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/","url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/","name":"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe - ASTRO 3D","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png","datePublished":"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-12T22:32:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/7c1aa497dff77978dae78be2b4ef07cf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image.png","width":1114,"height":856},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/jwst-reveals-a-massive-and-ancient-galaxy-that-challenges-our-models-of-the-young-universe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"JWST reveals a massive and ancient galaxy that challenges our models of the young Universe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/","name":"ASTRO 3D","description":"Unlocking the Universe - Inspiring the Future","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/7c1aa497dff77978dae78be2b4ef07cf","name":"Bill Condie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/35b03b6bf0619fe57ee633d985bb58a5","url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Science-in-Public-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Science-in-Public-150x150.jpg","caption":"Bill Condie"},"description":"Bill Condie has been a journalist for more than 35 years, mostly writing and editing for British national newspapers, including The Times, The Guardian, the Observer, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, and the London Evening Standard. His career has been wide-ranging from international affairs, to politics and science. Since returning to Australia he has concentrated on science journalism and writing, first working at Australia\u2019s leading science magazine Cosmos, first as an editor and later as Publisher, then as Head of Publishing at the Royal Institution of Australia. He has also produced written and video content both for traditional media outlets and for researchers, universities and other institutions including Flinders University, Monash University and the University of Adelaide, to help them communicate complex subjects to a wide audience.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/science-in-public-pty-ltd\/"],"url":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/member\/science-in-public\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33427"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33453,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427\/revisions\/33453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33427"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astro3d.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}