The James Webb Space Telescope has captured something that should not exist
Six galaxies found in the primordial Universe, when it was only 500-700 million years old, have been observed thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and appear to be much more massive than previously assumed. This was revealed in a study published in the journal Nature by scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia.
As the Universe expands, galaxies and other celestial objects move further apart, altering the light they emit. Using this principle, researchers searched for massive galaxies formed in the early Universe prior to 750 million years after the Big Bang. The experts identified six cosmic objects that were surprisingly massive, so massive that they should not be accurate according to current cosmological theory. The data published in Nature indicate that the amount of mass detected is about 100 times greater than expected. The discovery is causing a stir among researchers, challenging current theories on the formation of the six galaxies and the origin of the Universe.
New studies are needed to confirm the discovery
“In such a young universe, we thought we would only find tiny baby galaxies, whereas the ones identified are already as mature as our own Milky Way,” explained Joel Leja of Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study. The researcher emphasized that it is important to keep an open mind at this stage: “The data indicate that these are probably galaxies, but I think there is a real possibility that some of these objects turn out to be obscured supermassive black holes.
According to the study’s authors, observations that measure the visible spectrum (which includes the infrared exploited by the Webb telescope) and the radio waves and X-rays emitted by the objects will be needed to confirm the discovery. These images would provide more accurate data on the real distances at which the galaxies are located and the elements that make them up. ‘This would immediately tell us whether these objects are real,’ Leja added, ‘and how big they are.
