From the very beginning of the scientific work of the James Webb Space Observatory (“James Webb”) has become incoming messages on the discovery of galaxies in the young universe. Discoveries rained down as if from a cornucopia, which greatly surprised scientists. At this stage of the development of the Universe, there shouldn’t have been so many stars, and even more galaxies. The antiquity of these items had yet to be proven, and “James Webb” helped to indicate in this matter.
The age of objects in the Universe is determined by the redshift (parameter z). The greater the redshift, the older the stars and galaxies. Direct observations in visible and infrared radiation do not guarantee an accurate determination of z. The red spectrum of a star does not mean that it is at some distance from us. It can turn red, for example, due to special nuclear processes inside.
It is possible to accurately determine the extent of redshift of stars and galaxies (from the stellar population) only by analyzing the spectrum. When you look at the spectral lines of molecular hydrogen, there is such marker, as the Lyman limit (wavelength 91.15 nm). After this limit the spectrum stops, and from this sign it is easy to calculate the true value of the star’s age: quite observable values (and therefore distorted by time and distance) can be correlated to this boundary sign.
The James Webb Telescope carries a near-infrared spectral analysis instrument (NIRSpec). This tool allowed us to pinpoint the Lyman limit for four new candidates for the oldest galaxies discovered in the Universe. It took three days and 28 hours of continuous light collection from these objects to gather the data. The oldest galaxy confirmed by Webb has a redshift of z13.2. It arose less than 400 million years after the Big Bang, which is in a segment of only 2% of the current time of the existence of the Universe.
It must be said that this particular work has not yet been peer-reviewed, but few scientists doubt that the early Universe is filled with both stars and galaxies. More and more data from Webb will certainly confirm this, which will force earthly science to think about our clearly erroneous idea of u200bu200bthe evolution of the universe at an early stage of development.
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL + ENTER.
