James Webb telescope finds 'totally unexpected' ancient galaxy that defies theory
An ancient galactic lighthouse is shining through the fog of the early universe, new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations reveal.
Researchers discovered bright ultraviolet (UV) light coming from an ancient, distant galaxy. The findings, published March 26 in the journal Nature, suggest that the universe's first stars modified their surroundings even earlier than expected.
Shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was a soup of protons, neutrons and electrons. As the universe cooled, the protons and neutrons combined to form positively charged hydrogen ions, which then attracted negatively charged electrons to create a fog of neutral hydrogen atoms. This fog absorbed light with short wavelengths, such as UV light, blocking it from reaching farther into the universe.
But as the first stars and galaxies formed, they emitted enough UV light to knock the electrons back off the hydrogen atoms, allowing UV light out once again. Though this "Era of Reionization" is thought to have ended about a billion years after the Big Bang, scientists still aren't sure exactly when the first stars formed — or when the Era of Reionization began.
Related: James Webb telescope reveals 'cosmic tornado' in best detail ever — and finds part of it is not what it seems
The new findings could help narrow down that starting point. Using JWST, researchers observed an ancient galaxy known as JADES-GS-z13-1. The galaxy is so far from Earth that we're observing it as it appeared just 330 million years after the Big Bang.
In the JWST data, the scientists spotted bright light at a specific wavelength known as the Lyman-alpha emission, which is produced by hydrogen. Though the light started out as ultraviolet, the universe's expansion over more than 13 billion years has stretched it out into the infrared region, making it visible to JWST's sensors.
For the Lyman-alpha emission to reach Earth today, JADES-GS-z13-1 must have ionized enough of the hydrogen gas around it to allow the UV light to escape — something scientists hadn't expected so early in the universe's development.
"GS-z13-1 is seen when the universe was only 330 million years old, yet it shows a surprisingly clear, telltale signature of Lyman-alpha emission that can only be seen once the surrounding fog has fully lifted," study co-author Roberto Maiolino, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. "This result was totally unexpected by theories of early galaxy formation and has caught astronomers by surprise."
RELATED STORIES
—James Webb telescope discovers 2 of the oldest galaxies in the universe
—James Webb telescope reveals 3 possible 'dark stars' — galaxy-sized objects powered by invisible dark matter
—'I was astonished': Ancient galaxy discovered by James Webb telescope contains the oldest oxygen scientists have ever seen
Researchers still don't know what produced the Lyman-alpha radiation in JADES-GS-z13-1. The light might come from extremely hot and massive early stars, or it might be produced by an early supermassive black hole.
"We really shouldn't have found a galaxy like this, given our understanding of the way the universe has evolved," study co-author Kevin Hainline, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, said in the statement. "We could think of the early universe as shrouded with a thick fog that would make it exceedingly difficult to find even powerful lighthouses peeking through, yet here we see the beam of light from this galaxy piercing the veil."
"This fascinating emission line has huge ramifications for how and when the universe reionized," Hainline concluded.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists may have solved a chemistry mystery about Jupiter's ocean moon Europa
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A long-standing mystery about the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on Jupiter's icy ocean moon Europa may be closer to being solved. Hydrogen peroxide forms as a byproduct when energetic particles break apart water molecules, leading to the recombination of OH radicals — highly reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. H2O2 was first observed on Europa by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, a scientific instrument aboard NASA's Galileo Jupiter orbiter that was designed to study the composition and surface features of the gas giant's moons and atmosphere using infrared light. Later, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) noticed elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide in unexpected areas on the Jovian satellite. Lab studies predicted that higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide would be found in Europa's colder polar regions — but JWST observations showed the opposite, detecting higher levels in the moon's warmer equatorial regions. These areas, known as chaos terrains, are marked by broken blocks of surface ice that appear to have shifted, drifted and refrozen. "Europa's peroxide distribution does not follow the temperature dependence predicted for pure water ice," wrote the team in their paper. Lab studies consistently show that colder ice has more H2O2, while warmer ice has less. In a new study, scientists report that they have noticed higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the chaos terrains alongside elevated levels of H2O2. This is probably the result of CO2 escaping Europa's subsurface ocean through cracks in the ice, the researchers say. The team therefore wondered if the presence of CO2 might be changing the ice's chemistry. "Could the presence of CO2 drive the enhanced peroxide production in Europa's chaos regions, signaling a surface composition more conducive to the formation of this radiolytic oxidant?" they wrote in their paper. "Supporting this hypothesis are preliminary experiments on irradiated H2O-CO2 ice mixtures that show increased H2O2 yields compared to pure water ice." To find a definitive answer, they "simulated the surface environment of Europa inside a vacuum chamber by depositing water ice mixed with CO2," Bereket Mamo, a graduate student at The University of Texas at San Antonio and a contractor with the Southwest Research Institute, said in a statement. "We then irradiated this ice mixture with energetic electrons to see how the peroxide production changed." The experiment confirmed what the team had suspected: Even small amounts of CO2 in water ice can greatly boost hydrogen peroxide production at temperatures similar to those on Europa's surface, helping to explain the unexpected JWST observations. This occurs because CO2 molecules behave as "molecular scavengers," grabbing hold of any stray electrons produced when radiation hits the water ice. By capturing these electrons, the CO2 helps protect hydrogen peroxide from being broken apart by further impacts or reactions. Related Stories: — Europa: A guide to Jupiter's icy ocean moon — 'Chaos' reigns beneath the ice of Jupiter moon Europa, James Webb Space Telescope reveals — Europa Clipper: A complete guide to NASA's astrobiology mission "Synthesis of oxidants like hydrogen peroxide on Europa's surface is important from an astrobiological point of view," said study co-author Richard Cartwright, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "In fact, an entire NASA mission, the Europa Clipper, is en route to the Jovian system right now to explore the icy moon and help us understand Europa's habitability. "Our experiments provide clues to better understand JWST Europa observations and serve as a prelude to upcoming close-range investigations by Europa Clipper and ESA's [the European Space Agency] JUICE spacecraft," Cartwright added. The new study was published in the Planetary Science Journal on Monday (July 21). Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Stunning Grand Canyon Fossils Reveal Evolution's Weird Experiments
A stunning new fossil find from the Grand Canyon fills in some blanks from a time when evolution began experimenting with weird new forms. About half a billion years ago, life on Earth really started cooking in an event we now call the Cambrian explosion. The fossil record from that time reveals a spike in bizarre, complex creatures appearing within a relatively short amount of time, laying the roots for most of the major animal groups that exist today. Frustratingly, fossils from later in the Cambrian period are rarer, so we don't have a clear picture of evolution's experimental second album. But a newly discovered batch of extremely well-preserved fossils could patch up that gap. These are about 505 million years old – 3 million years younger than the Burgess Shale, the layer in which fossils from the Cambrian explosion appear. Related: A team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge found more than 1,500 small, carbonaceous fossils in samples from the Bright Angel Formation (BAF) of the Grand Canyon, which was once a shallow marine environment. The vast majority of the fossils are priapulid worms, along with a couple hundred crustaceans and a few mollusks. Although ecological resources were plentiful at the time, competition was also on the rise, rewarding species that exploited new niches. Analysis of these fossils revealed a variety of adaptations to do just that. A worm species called Kraytdraco spectatus, for example, was found to be covered in teeth sporting elaborate filaments, which varied in shape and length based on where they were on the body. The researchers suggest that they used their tougher teeth to scrape and rake surfaces, kicking up food particles that they could then filter out of the water using the longer filaments. Crustacean fossils featured signs of suspension feeding by way of tiny hairs that pushed food particles towards the mouth to be ground up by molar-like structures. The mollusks, meanwhile, sported rows of shovel-shaped teeth that could have been dragged front-to-back to scrape algae or microbes from surfaces. The Cambrian explosion gets plenty of attention because it's so well-represented in the fossil record, but that was just the beginning. The newly described fossils, with their exceptional level of preserved detail, provide a fascinating glimpse into the time soon after that, when complex life was established and comfortable, and had the stability to start innovating with new forms. And we should be glad it did: most of the major groups (or phyla) of animals got their start during the Cambrian. That includes arthropoda, encompassing all insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. And there's chordata, which includes us and the rest of our backbone-bearing brethren. The competitive period of the late Cambrian could have cemented the strategies that helped animals stay successful half a billion years later. "If the Cambrian Explosion laid the foundations of modern metazoan adaptive solutions, it is the scaling up of their competitive interactions that may have enforced directional, long-term trends of functional innovation in the Phanerozoic biosphere," the researchers write. The study was published in the journal Science Advances. Related News Neither Scales Nor Feathers: Bizarre Appendage Discovered on Reptile Fossil America's Largest Crater Has Surprise Link to Grand Canyon, Study Finds 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil Suggests Ocean Origin For Spiders Solve the daily Crossword


Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
New Air and Space Museum galleries open in D.C.
New galleries will open at the Air and Space Museum on Monday. Why it matters: It marks another completed phase of the Smithsonian museum's almost $1 billion renovation, which began in 2018 and will see all 20 galleries refreshed and 1,400 new artifacts by next year. (Just in time for its 50th anniversary, and the celebration of America's 250th birthday.) State of play: The openings include three existing galleries that got glow-ups, plus two brand-new ones: 👽 Futures in Space: Ponder where space exploration could take us in the future at this new gallery, with cool pieces like an R2-D2 replica and a mock-up of the Blue Origin capsule that took Jeff Bezos to space in 2021. 🌎 Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery: This new installation will feature a rotating lineup of exhibits focused on innovation in the aerospace world. On display now: A look at how air and space advancements are helping to tackle climate change. 🚀 Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall: The newly refreshed entrance is reopened with museum must-sees like the Mercury Friendship 7 capsule and the Bell X-1, plus new displays. 🛩️ Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight: Learn about the trailblazers leading the way in aviation during the 1920s and '30s at this revamped gallery, complete with Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis plane and Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega 5B. 🪖 World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation: This refreshed gallery is all about the first World War's aviation history, with displays like a Sopwith F. 1 Camel and a U.S. balloon basket used for spying. Plus: The museum's renovated Imax theater is now open.