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The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb or JWST) has spotted several rare red spiral galaxies, giving astronomers a new insight into the early universe.
Astronomers have analyzed the red spiral galaxies in one of James Webb Space Telescopeof the first images, that of the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3–7327. Seen through the eyes of the JWST, the most powerful telescope ever to orbit, the galaxy cluster magnifies objects seen behind it, allowing astronomers to see deeper into the universe. Researchers have determined that some of these galaxies represent the most distant spiral galaxies ever seen.
The red spiral galaxies themselves are not new discoveries: NASA is retired Spitzer Space Telescope imagined them in the past. But Spitzer didn’t have the power of JWST and couldn’t see the details of the shape of galaxies, which astronomers call morphology. The shape of galaxies tells the story of their evolution, so the intricate details of the morphology of these galaxies provided by JWST could significantly improve our understanding of the early universe.
Gallery: The first photos of the James Webb Space Telescope
Additionally, a particular galaxy hidden in the image could change our perception of the galactic population that existed during this period in cosmic history. In the image, astronomers have spotted a red spiral galaxy in the early universe that is ‘passive’ or does not form stars. The finding is surprising, since astronomers had expected galaxies in the early universe to be actively giving birth to stars.
“While these galaxies had already been detected among previous observations using those of NASA Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, their limited spatial resolution and/or sensitivity did not allow us to study their detailed shapes and properties,” said Yoshinobu Fudamoto, junior researcher at Waseda University in Japan and lead author of the new research, in a statement. declaration.
Spiral galaxies are extremely common in the cosmic neighborhood around the Milky Way, but red spiral galaxies are much rarer, accounting for only 2% of the galaxies in the local universe. The discovery of red spiral galaxies in the early universe in observations encompassing a relatively insignificant fraction of space suggests that these rare galaxies were much more common in the early universe.
Astronomers have found that the two most extremely red galaxies, RS13 and RS14, appear as they did between 8 billion and 10 billion years ago, very early in the universe’s 13.8 billion-year lifespan. The two galaxies are also the most distant and earliest spiral galaxies known to date.
And the fact that RS14 is a passive galaxy that has stopped forming stars it only makes the discovery more intriguing because its existence suggests that galaxies that don’t form stars may be more common in the early universe than astronomers thought.
“Our study showed for the first time that passive spiral galaxies could be abundant in the early universe,” Fudamoto said. “Although this paper is a pilot study of spiral galaxies in the early universe, confirmation and expansion of this study would greatly influence our understanding of the formation and evolution of galactic landforms.”
The team’s research is published at The letters from the astrophysicist diary.
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