The James Webb Space Telescope has observed five objects that may be the earliest star clusters present during the Dawn of the Universe.
According to Live Science, a group of scientists used James Webb to successfully observe five dense globular clusters in the ancient galaxy "Cosmic Gems".
Cosmic Gems are seen as an arc of light, often called the "cosmic Gem arc", which existed just 460 million years after the Big Bang.
Therefore, the five newly observed primordial globular clusters may represent the first objects to emerge from the original "chaos" of the universe, now 13.8 billion years old.
Globular clusters inside the Cosmic Gems galaxy are seen thanks to the magnifying effect of a foreground lens galaxy - Photo: NASA/ESA/CSA
Globular clusters inside the Cosmic Gems galaxy are seen thanks to the magnifying effect of a foreground lens galaxy - Photo: NASA/ESA/CSA
According to Dr. Angela Adamo from Stockholm University (Sweden), first author of the article published in the scientific journal Nature, it was a lucky observation thanks to the gravitational lensing effect.
Light takes a time corresponding to the distance to reach Earth, so what we are seeing of an early object is an image of that object in the past, with the location of the past , when it has not been pushed too far due to the expansion of the universe.
However, observing an object at a distance of more than 13 billion light years is still a challenge for even James Webb.
However, a huge galaxy named SPT-CL J0615-5746 accidentally lies between our galaxy and the Cosmic Gems, becoming a giant magnifying glass that magnifies the ancient galaxy, increasing its power. James Webb.
Objects like SPT-CL J0615-5746 are called gravitational lenses in astronomy, because the galaxy's enormous gravity has bent space-time, bending the light passing through it, thereby causing produce a zoom effect.
This effect prevents us from seeing the Cosmic Gems as a normal galaxy, but the light from it is distorted, causing the galaxy's image to distort into an arc. Most importantly, however, it became large enough to clearly see the five globular clusters inside.
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A globular cluster is a cluster of high-density stars, held together by strong gravity, thereby helping stars prolong their lives. Therefore, globular clusters become the "fossils" of the universe that scientists are always hunting for.
The star clusters within the Cosmic Gems are extremely dense, about three orders of magnitude denser than star-forming regions observed closer to Earth.
These globular clusters are the oldest ever observed, although it is not certain that they were the first globular clusters to form in the universe.
However, they are surprising evidence that star formation is actually very strong in galaxies previously thought to be very simple and small during the Dawn of the Universe - the first 1 billion years. Queen Big Bang.
Apparently from this early time, cluster star formation took place.
"To form giant primitive globular clusters, the host galaxy needs to be able to create and hold enough gas mass. So it all depends on the growth rate of the primitive galaxies" - Dr. Adamo said.
That is new evidence supporting a hypothesis that has been increasingly accepted in recent years, since humanity had James Webb: The universe in the first few billion years of its life developed very strongly, quickly and complexly, even much faster than today's speed.
