The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) surprised the scientific world with its observations of the early periods of the universe. Giant galaxies, called “Red Monsters,” challenged galaxy formation theories and left scientists with new questions.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made a new discovery.
Developed by NASA, the European and Canadian Space Agencies, JWST observed three galaxies nearly the size of the Milky Way just 1 billion years after the Big Bang, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
These galaxies appear red in the images due to the dense amount of dust they contain. Astronomers thought that the first galaxies of the universe emerged in dark matter halos and grew over a long period of time. However, new findings have revealed that this process may have occurred much faster than expected.
“IT’S LIKE FINDING A 100-KILLER CHILD”
Ivo Labbé from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia expressed his surprise by likening this situation to “finding a 100-kilo little child.” The study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature, stated that the other 36 galaxies discovered by JWST were compatible with existing models, while emphasizing that the “Red Monsters” may require serious revisions to these theories. Mengyuan Xiao, the lead author of the study, said, “These galaxies open a new window in our understanding of the earliest periods of the universe. As the investigations deepen, we can obtain groundbreaking information about star formation and galaxy evolution.” Scientists aim to learn more about the early years of the universe with the contributions of advanced observatories such as JWST and the ALMA telescope in Chile. This new discovery indicates that existing theories of galaxy formation need to be revised.
