In the deep field of sky scanned by the James-Webb Space Telescope, every bright point is a galaxy, some of them very old, born shortly after the Big Bang. NASA, ESA, CSA and M. Zamani (ESA/Webb). Science: B. Robertson (UCSC), S. Dachella (Cambridge), E. Curtis-Lake (Hertfordshire), s. Carniani (Schola Normale Superiore), and Jades collaboration.
Decryption – NASA’s space observatory has identified clusters of stars that formed in the early youth of the universe after the Big Bang.
It’s now official and published in a top science journal, the new James-Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is farther than its predecessor Hubble. Designed and built by NASA and launched by the European Space Agency in December 2021, the massive and complex craft has discovered the most distant galaxy ever seen in the universe. But rather than distance, it’s its age that interests astronomers. The new record holder, named JADES-GS-z13-0, is the oldest known galaxy that formed very soon after the Big Bang. On the age scale of the universe that formed 13.8 billion years ago, this “very short period” still equates to 320 million years.
“ Our main objective with James-Webb is to search for the cosmic dawn after the Big Bang, when the first stars and the first galaxies formed. », CNRS Research Director Stephen Charlotte explains…
This article is for subscribers only. 78% is left for you to discover.
Want to read more?
Open all items immediately.
Already subscribed? to login
