Read the full version
30.12.2023 14:34, Gennady Detinich
Space Observatory named after. James Webb committed one of the most significant revelations in astronomy in recent years. The largest ancient galaxy, HFLS3, discovered in 2013 and only 880 million years old, was not what scientists said it was. As Webb observations have shown, HFLS3 is a collision of six young galaxies at the dawn of time.
“Galaxy” HFLS3 as imagined by an artist. Image source: ESA/C. Carreau
The early Universe was a time of turbulent events. In the first 2 billion years after the Big Bang – about 13.8 billion years ago – star formation increased markedly, and galaxies flared up in the darkness, collided and grew. But try to discern details from our time! It is no wonder that the imperfection of scientific instruments does not always make it possible to understand what happened in specific areas of space at a certain time.
The discovery of the HFLS3 “galaxy” in 2013 amazed scientists. The object was discovered in data from the Herschel space telescope. It was at the very beginning of the birth of the Universe during the era of reionization, generating stars at an astonishing rate – about 3000 solar masses per year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy produces stars at a rate of up to 8 solar masses per year. And this despite the fact that HFLS3 and the Milky Way had approximately the same mass.
What happened in HFLS3 could not be explained using current theories in cosmology. Subsequent observations by Herschel and the involvement of another space telescope, Hubble, made it possible to suspect that HFLS3 is not what it seems. The James Webb Telescope brought more clarity when it observed this part of the sky in the fall of 2022.
A team of astrophysicists led by scientist Gareth Jones from the University of Oxford analyzed data from the HFLS3 observation and prepared a scientific paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and available Online arXiv.
What the HFLS3 “galaxy” actually looks like in the Webb data. images: Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Scientists have discovered that HFLS3 consists of three pairs of small galaxies rotating in a peculiar cosmic dance that leads them to an inevitable collision in space just 36,000 light years across. This collision would have occurred within a billion years of observation, which would be considered a fairly short period of time for something as big as a galactic collision.
Galaxies in pairs are so close to each other that their gravitational interactions mix up their star-forming material, causing it to burst into star formation, which also explains the extremely high rate at which new stars are born. And the discovery offers a fascinating snapshot of how galaxies interacted and grew during a period known as the Cosmic Dawn.
“HFLS3 is likely not an extreme starburst, but instead represents one of the densest groups of interacting star-forming galaxies in the first billion years of the Universe. Recent and ongoing high-resolution observations… will help better characterize this unique region.” — scientists shared their analysis in the article.
2023-12-30 11:34:00
#James #Webb #spotted #smaller #galaxies #huge #ancient #galaxy
