To revisit the past, one might envision the need for a Time Machine, a concept currently confined to science fiction. However, scientists have now delved into the depths of time to make a real discovery. They have unearthed something ‘truly surprising’ from billions of years ago that could revolutionize our understanding of the vast, infinite universe. These revelations have emerged through the utilization of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, equipped with the Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), enabling scientists to examine the earliest known galaxies in our universe. A team of researchers from Durham University has meticulously analyzed data from just a few billion years after the universe’s formation. To provide context, our universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old.
Galaxies in the early universe are evolving much more rapidly than previously believed
This is even further back than the previously earliest known conditions of the universe observed for the period about nine billion years ago.
The team’s findings have been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The findings suggest the presence of more stable environmental conditions, contrasting with the earlier, more chaotic nature of galaxies during their formative stages.
Zoe Le Conte, a PhD researcher in the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy within the Department of Physics at Durham University and the lead author of the research, noted, “Galaxies in the early universe are evolving much more rapidly than previously believed. This is truly surprising because one would expect the universe at that juncture to be extremely turbulent, characterized by frequent collisions between galaxies and abundant gas that has not yet transitioned into stars.” “However, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we are witnessing many of these traits much earlier in the universe’s history, indicating that galaxies had already progressed to a more settled stage in their development than previously thought.” “This necessitates a reassessment of our understanding of early galaxy evolution.”