Copenhagen, Denmark – The formation processes of some of the Universe’s earliest galaxies during the Cosmic Dawn era have just been discovered by scientists. Through observations made by the JWST telescope around 13.3 to 13.4 billion years ago, insightful details about the active slurping of gas reservoirs into three newly forming and growing galaxies have been unveiled.
Astrophysicist Kasper Elm Heintz from the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, who led the research, described the observations as the first ‘direct’ images of galaxy formation ever seen. Unlike previous glimpses of early galaxies at later stages of evolution, this time the team caught a glimpse of their very birth, witnessing the construction of the first star systems within the Universe.
Named as the Cosmic Dawn, the first billion years after the Big Bang remains shrouded in mystery and the fog of neutral hydrogen, hindering the propagation of light. The utilization of JWST, specifically designed to penetrate this fog with its infrared visibility, became essential in exploring how the first stars and galaxies emerged from a hot primordial plasma soup, clearing the fog under the light of early objects.
The researchers used JWST’s infrared eye to peer towards the Cosmic Dawn, pinpointing a signal traced to three galaxies, existing approximately 400 to 600 million years after the Big Bang. These galaxies are considered among the earliest detected, as their light was absorbed and reemitted by the surrounding neutral hydrogen, revealing their presence as sparkling islands within a sea of opaque gas.
Moreover, the researchers were able to distinguish the large gas reservoirs actively forming into galactic material around these galaxies from the intergalactic neutral gas. The abundance of gas indicated that the galaxies were still in the process of forming most of their stars during the observations.
Cosmologist and astrophysicist Darach Watson of the Niels Bohr Institute emphasized the significance of witnessing the process of stars and gas coalescing into galaxies during the early stages after the Big Bang. This discovery ignites a deeper understanding of the galaxy formation process, shedding light on the moments when some of the Universe’s first structures were created.
Through continuous investigation and exploration of the Cosmic Dawn era, scientists hope to uncover more pieces of the puzzle, answering fundamental questions about the origins of the Universe. This groundbreaking research, published in the journal Science, offers a profound glimpse into the birth of some of the Universe’s earliest galaxies, providing a platform for further inquiry and discovery.