The first galaxies might have formed much earlier than previously thought, according to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope that are reshaping astronomers’ understanding of the early universe.
Researchers using the powerful observatory have now published papers in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, documenting two exceptionally bright, exceptionally distant galaxies, based on data gathered within the first few days of Webb going operational in July.
Their extreme luminosity points to two intriguing possibilities, NASA astronomers said on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
The first is that these incredibly massive galaxies had to start forming 100 million years earlier than the currently held end of the so-called cosmic dark age, when the universe contained only gas and dark matter.
A second possibility is that they are made up of “Population III” stars, which have never been observed, but are theorized to have been made of only helium and hydrogen, before heavier elements existed.
Because these stars burned so brightly at extreme temperatures, galaxies made of them would not need to be as massive for the brightness as seen by Webb, and could have started forming later.
“We are seeing such bright, such luminous galaxies at this early time, that we’re really uncertain about what is happening here,” University of California professor of astrophysics Garth Illingworth said.
The galaxies’ rapid discovery also defied expectations that Webb would need to survey a much larger volume of space to find such galaxies.
“It’s sort of a bit of a surprise that there are so many that formed so early,” Rochester Institute of Technology professor of astrophysics Jeyhan Kartaltepe said.
The two galaxies were found to have definitely existed approximately 450 million and 350 million years after the Big Bang.
The second of these, called GLASS-z12, now represents the most distant starlight ever seen.
Illingworth, who coauthored the paper on GLASS-z12, said that disentangling the two competing hypotheses would be a “real challenge,” although the Population III idea was more appealing to him, as it would not require upending existing cosmological models.
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
RSS