▲ A galaxy cluster about 33 billion light years away as observed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope. It was confirmed that the shape of the galaxy cluster was different from that of previously observed galaxy clusters. Provided by NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched on Christmas Day two years ago and has provided humanity with an eye to the universe, is attracting attention after discovering the early stages of the creation of the universe once again.
An international joint research team led by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. and comprised of scientists from 20 research institutions in eight countries, including Australia, Israel, France, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Japan, has discovered the appearance of a galaxy in the early stages of the creation of the universe, located about 33 billion light years away. It was announced on the 14th that it had been observed. This discovery was published in the November 13th issue of ‘Astrophysical Journal Letters’, an international academic journal in the field of astrophysics.
The research team discovered two old galaxy clusters in ‘Abell 2744’, nicknamed the Pandora Cluster. The cluster observed this time is the second and fourth most distant among the galaxy clusters observed so far. The research team used JWST’s new spectrometer, which observes light emitted in the electromagnetic spectrum, for this observation.
The newly discovered galaxy clusters were among 60,000 stars shining in the Pandora cluster discovered in one of JWST’s first deep space images taken in 2022. The research team observed the galaxy cluster this time using the gravitational lensing phenomenon. Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon derived from Einstein’s principle of relativity, in which light from a very distant celestial body appears bent by a large celestial body in the middle. Through this, it is possible to observe celestial bodies that are too faint and difficult to observe.
The research team first filtered out 700 of the 60,000 light sources and selected 8 as potential candidates created early in the creation of the universe. They then analyzed the electromagnetic spectrum of these light sources.
The light detected by JWST this time is estimated to have been emitted when the universe was young, when the age was about 330 million years, and traveled 13.4 billion light years to reach JWST. Considering the rate of expansion of the universe, it was analyzed that it is about 33 billion light years away.
In particular, other galaxies identified at the same distance appear as red dots, but the new galaxies discovered this time are larger and have a shape similar to a peanut or soft ball.
“Until now, galaxies that were as far away as we discovered this time looked like dots, but the shape of the galaxy observed this time looks like a long peanut or a fluffy ball,” said Wang Bingji, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Pennsylvania who led this research. “This is the difference in shape.” “Further research will be needed to determine whether this is due to differences in the way stars form or other causes, but it is evaluated as a step closer to solving the secrets of the early universe.”
Reporter Yoo Yong-ha
