Hundreds of unexpected energy objects have been discovered throughout the distant universe, suggesting that the universe is perhaps much more active in childhood than astronomers once believed.
Researchers at the University of Missouri used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Deep-Field images to identify 300 unusually bright objects in early universes. They could be galaxies, but astronomers still don’t know if they are certain. Galaxies that form immediately after the Big Bang is faint should be limited by the pace at which they can form stars. However, these candidates shine much brighter than the current models of the early Galactic Layer.
“If it turns out that some of these objects are what we think, our discoveries can challenge current ideas about how galaxies were formed in the early universe, when the first stars and galaxies began to take shape.”
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To discover these objects, the team applied a method called “dropout” technique. This detects objects that appear at red wavelengths but disappear in short blue wavelength images. This indicates that the object is very far away, indicating the universe over 13 billion years ago.
To estimate distance, the team analyzed the brightness of the object across multiple wavelengths to infer redshift, age, and mass. JWST’s powerful near-infrared cameras and mid-infrared instruments are designed to detect light from the furthest range of space, making them ideal for studying early universes.
“When light from these early galaxies passes through space, it stretches to a longer wavelength. It shifts from visible light to infrared,” Yang said in a statement. “This stretching called Redshift helps you determine how far these galaxies are. The higher the redshift, the closer the galaxy is to the beginning of the universe.”
Second, researchers hope to use targeted spectroscopic observations, focusing on the brightest sources. By identifying newly discovered objects as authentic early galaxies, we will improve our current understanding of how the original cosmic structures formed and evolved, and will be added to the Growth of Transformational Discoveries made by JWST since we began observing the universe in 2022.
The findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal on June 27th.
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