- Jonathan Amos
- BBC science correspondent
This photo doesn’t appear to have much going on. It’s just a cluster of bright red dots with the weird name JADES-GS-z13-0.
But this faint image, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, is the “most distant galaxy” ever confirmed by internationally standardized measurement methods.
This image of the constellation occurred 325 million years after the Big Bang.
If the universe is 13.8 billion years old, that means we are looking at JADES-GS-z13-0. When this universe was only 2% of its current age.
The light of this constellation took a long time to reach us.
‘I am so proud and grateful to be a part of this moment,’ said Dr Emma Curtis-Lake, who was part of an international team that released details of the findings on Friday.
Previously, the Hubble Space Telescope which was used before the James Webb Space Telescope. He discovered the “furthest galaxy” called GN-z11, a little closer to us. It occurs while the universe is only about 400 million years old.
But the important thing is The stick has now been passed from Hubble to James Webb. From One Big Telescope to the Next Big Telescope As scientists try to trace the earliest times in which stars formed,
In fact, NASA’s recent deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope US Space Agency has the main goal of finding the first stars to shine in this universe.
GIADA-GS-z13-0 Not since that moment But we are getting closer every moment. But there was one question. No more distant galaxies have been reported. GIADA-GS-z13-0 From James Webb Space Telescope observations last summer?
The answer is “maybe” and this uncertainty is due to the differences in the techniques used to determine the distance.
Astronomers use the word “redshift” in terms of distance
It uses a method of measuring the wavelengths that stretch light as it travels from distant galaxies.
The distance will be greater If there is a lot of stretching This makes the redshift number even higher (the JADES galaxy has a redshift number of 13.2, which is what the name suggests).
Scientists have studied many aspects. to help make this assessment even more accurate It includes the brightness and color of the subject being studied using some specific filters in the camera. This technique is known as metering.
Different galactic bands, or “slits”, can lighten or darken them in different filters and can be an indication of their distance.
This is just a guideline. But it is not always possible to believe.
If there is a lot of dust in a galaxy It may make the subject appear redder. and farther than it is
To measure the most accurate Astronomers tend to use more spectral analysis tools. which is a more detailed technique The components of the light signal are separated into different wavelengths.
This allows them to better locate “rifts” within the spectrum of the galaxy. You can also see the emission lines of elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and neon.
Comparison of the measured wavelengths with the wavelengths obtained in laboratory experiments. it will help to tell you directly how much light is stretched The same goes for redshift and distance.
Both JADES-GS-z13-0 and GN-z11 were confirmed with a spectrum analyzer. which is an international standard method The largest redshifts observed in reports in recent months have been attributed to the measurement of light.
This is hard work all around. The goal is very vague. also on a James Webb camera and its giant 6.5 meter wide mirror
Dr Curtis-Lake and his colleague JADES (JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey) spent hours collecting image fragments at the Hub Space Telescope.
“It’s an incredible piece of sky. It’s like seeing the Queen’s eyes on a pound coin held at arm’s length,” said Dr Rensk Smit of Liverpool’s John Moores University. Webb sees tens of thousands of galaxies.”
image source, COLLABORATION NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Zamani, JADES
JADES has made observations that the Hubble Space Telescope has done before. but they investigated deeper
This new space telescope A near-infrared light spectrum detector is installed. Also included is the European Space Agency’s powerful near-infrared spectrometer (NIRSpec), whose job it is to analyze faint light signals thoroughly.
It will be used to select the objects to be studied. In that patch of sky The team selected 250 promising objects, four of which turned out to be very distant galaxies.
from the furthest GIADA-GS-z13-0 The closest part is GIADA-GS-z12-0, GIADA-GS-z11-0 and GIADA-GS-z10-0
image source, AIRBUS
NIRSpec is a significant European contribution to the James Webb project.
“The James Webb Space Telescope was built to do this job. and the NIRSpec instrument built by the European Space Agency. It’s at the heart of everything,” said Professor Mark McCorn, senior science adviser to the European Space Agency.
“Finding ‘first light’ in the universe requires a large space telescope. and has a light-sensitive infrared camera to find out what might be in the faint galaxies that formed 200-300 million years after the Big Bang.”
“But there are many haystacks. While there are so few needles out there, you have to consider a number of options. Take the little light you get from each option and convert it into a spectrum. and use a tracer to see if They are the correct distance and age? By being able to efficiently track hundreds of targets simultaneously, NIRSpec allows cosmic magnetism to be applied to those haystacks,” she told BBC News.
