Even more fascinating images of space are being sent back by the James Webb Space Telescope, and this time, they’re from the distant past. Images from the brand new spacecraft show distant galaxies with structures similar to the Milky Way, our galaxy.
James Webb’s images were taken when the galaxy was just 25 percent of its current age and show a spiral galaxy with stellar bars, elongated structures of stars that formed on the outer edges of galaxies about 11 billion years ago. extending from the center to the disc.
“I took one look at these data, and I said, ‘We’re leaving everything else out!'” Shraddha Jogi, a professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, explained in a media release.
“Bars barely visible in the Hubble data popped out in the JWST image, demonstrating JWST’s tremendous power to see the underlying structure in galaxies.”
Imágenes de la galaxia EGS23205. A la izquierda la tomada por el telescopio Hubble y a la derecha la del James Webbhttps://t.co/975rFJYg8C pic.twitter.com/ah5sYZfSzJ
— Ramón Encinas (@Ramon_E_G) January 7, 2023
Learning more about these galaxies and why they resemble the Milky Way could change our understanding of how spiral galaxies form and evolve.
The Hubble Space Telescope has previously captured images of distant galaxies, but the faint dust and glare of young stars revealed only a faint disc-shaped blob. Retrieving these photographs by James Webb revealed more information than ever before.
James Webb’s large mirror makes it more efficient at gathering light. The large infrared wavelength enables it to see through dust with greater precision, and also helps identify underlying structures.
“For this study, we’re looking at a new system where no one has used this kind of data or done this kind of quantitative analysis before,” said StudyFinds, who led the data analysis. Wale quoted graduate student Yuchen “Ki” Guo as saying. is saying
“So everything is new. It’s like going into a forest where no one has ever been before.”
A galaxy with the name EGS-23205 appears to be a spiral galaxy with a distinct star bar. Another barred galaxy, EGS-2468, may have formed 11 billion years ago, according to astronomers. Four more barred galaxies more than eight million years old were discovered by the telescope.
Galactic bars are crucial to the evolution of a galaxy because they transport gas into its core. In turn, the gas encourages the growth of stars.
“Bars solve the supply chain problem in galaxies,” Jogi explained.
A bar moves gas into the galactic center at a rate that is typically 10 to 100 times faster than the rest of the galaxy, just as we transport raw materials from ports to inland factories. that develop new products.
By guiding gas, bars can also help form massive black holes at the center of galaxies.
Spiral bars appear to be a mechanism for accelerating the creation of new stars during the early epochs, challenging astronomers’ beliefs about the formation of galaxies. These primordial bars also contradict the universe as currently understood because they add another variable to galactic physics.
According to a report by StudyFinds, the research study has been accepted and will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
