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Since its debut on Christmas Day, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has continually demonstrated its value. The year 2024 is no different. Here are five moments when this incredibly powerful telescope has transformed our comprehension of the cosmos.
Massive galaxies
The James Webb telescope was partly engineered to seek out the universe’s earliest galaxies. These galaxies are situated so far away that the universe’s expansion has shifted their light into the redder, or infrared section of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Astronomers employed the observatory to locate these ancient galaxies and consistently found them to be larger and more luminous than we anticipated. The implications here relate to our knowledge of galaxy formation. The early universe seems to be a far more dynamic environment than previously believed.
Galaxies seem to appear and grow rapidly, often within merely a few hundred million years. Cosmologists are puzzled as to how the dynamics that lead to galaxy growth can transpire so swiftly, and astronomers are optimistic that future observations by the James Webb telescope will uncover the insights required to unravel this mystery.
Gigantic black holes
This year, JWST detected some enormous black holes. In May, astronomers observed two colossal entities, each approximately 50 million times the mass of our sun, in the midst of a collision when the universe was around 740 million years old.
The existence of massive black holes in the early universe poses an even greater challenge to explain than that of large galaxies. This difficulty arises because the sole known formation process for black holes is the demise of massive stars, which result in black holes with masses of only a few times that of the sun. Following that, these small seeds must devour surrounding material at an exceptional rate and frequently merge to attain supermassive status at such an early stage in cosmic history.
Astronomers remain uncertain about the astrophysical mechanisms that could clarify how these black holes grew so large so soon — but JWST might also be instrumental in addressing that inquiry.
Discrepancy in Hubble’s Law
Over the past ten years, cosmologists have been greatly troubled by a phenomenon known as the Hubble tension. Various approaches for determining the current expansion rate of the cosmos, referred to as the Hubble rate or Hubble constant, yield slightly different outcomes.
The primary discrepancy lies in the fact that measurements acquired from the early universe tend to be somewhat larger than those obtained from the later universe. Astronomers have proposed numerous theories to alleviate the tension, ranging from simple measurement inaccuracies to revising our comprehension of dark energy.
At present, there is no widely accepted explanation for the tension. This year, the James Webb telescope did not provide any clarity after affirming that, indeed, Virginia, the Hubble tension is quite genuine. So…thank you?
Carbon neutrality
Life, as we know it, necessitates at least five crucial components: hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Eliminate one of these, and the fundamental biochemical processes that sustain life would halt. Hydrogen was created in the initial moments of the Big Bang. The others can solely be produced in the cores of stars. These building blocks only venture into interstellar space — where they can contribute to the formation of new stars and solar systems — after those stars have perished.
A planet like Earth, abundant in these essential elements to support life, is a result of numerous generations of stellar births and deaths over billions of years. Thus, it was unexpected when astronomers employing the James Webb telescope discovered a cloud of carbon formed merely 350 million years following the Big Bang.
This discovery significantly rewinds the timeline on when life could have potentially emerged in the universe. If a considerable amount of carbon was located within a cloud, then it is probable that the other essential components were also present. All these elements could have conceivably shaped a planet before the universe was even half a billion years old. While we still don’t know if life existed at that time, this finding serves as pivotal evidence that it was achievable.
The Initial Generation
The James Webb telescope is a tool of pioneering discoveries: the initial galaxies, first black holes, and the primary building blocks of life. Nonetheless, the ultimate cosmic achievement would be identifying the first stars. In the unique terminology of astronomy, the earliest generation of stars is identified as Population III stars. Within the contemporary universe, no known Population III stars exist, and astronomers theorize that none from that era survived for extended periods.
These stars would be markedly different from today’s populations, which rely on heavier elements to regulate their fusion processes. However, the first generation had exclusively primordial hydrogen and helium. These stars emerged before the first galaxies and heralded the cosmic dawn — the very first light of the universe.
Locating the inaugural stars would be groundbreaking, and this year, astronomers might have achieved that feat. Researchers uncovered subtle indicators of Population III stars in the collective light from the galaxy GN-z11, a galaxy existing merely 430 million years after the Big Bang. Even though this galaxy emerged long after the first stars, it may harbor a remnant population of those ancient luminaries. The discovery remains tentative, yet if validated, it could be regarded as the James Webb telescope’s most significant finding in history.
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