From the Firehose

James Webb Space Telescope helps researchers uncover early galaxies in 'new chapter in astronomy'

January 1, 2014 by Mark

In what James Webb Space Telescope researchers call a "whole new chapter in astronomy," the observatory has helped to locate two early galaxies, one of which may contain the most distant starlight ever seen. 

In a tweet, the international team said the unexpectedly bright galaxies could fundamentally alter what is known about the very first stars.

The research – two papers – was published last week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

With just four days of analysis, researchers found the galaxies in the images from the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS) Early Release Science (ERS) program. 

The scientists found that the galaxies existed around 450 and 350 million years after the big bang, though future spectroscopic measurements with Webb will help confirm these initial findings. 

Two of the farthest galaxies seen to date are captured in these Webb Space Telescope pictures of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years farther behind it. The galaxy labeled (1) existed only 450 million years after the big bang. The galaxy labeled (2) existed 350 million years after the big bang. Both are seen really close in time to the Big Bang, which occurred 13.8 billion years ago. These galaxies are tiny, compared to our Milky Way, being just a few percent of its size, even the unexpectedly elongated galaxy labeled (1).

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December 23, 2013 by Jacob

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December 14, 2013 by Chris

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