admin The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) made the astounding discovery of observing complex organic molecules at a staggering distance of 12 billion light years. This breakthrough opens new possibilities for understanding the origin of life in the universe and provides valuable insights into the early universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope continues to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Scientists have discovered complex organic molecules for the first time in a galaxy more than 12 billion light years away. This breakthrough discovery, made possible by the state-of-the-art James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the team’s careful investigation, has paved the way for new insights into the complex chemical dynamics of the earliest galaxies.
Webb observes complex organic molecules
Joaquín Vieira, Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Kedar Fadke, a promising graduate student, are researchers at Texas A&M University and world-renowned scientific cooperated with someone. They were able to separate the infrared signal emitted by a large amount of dust particles from recently observed hydrocarbon molecules in the galaxy. This groundbreaking discovery was published in the journal Nature.
Using Infrared Light to Understand Galaxies Obscured by Dust
Vieira’s interest in this work began as a student, focusing on distant galaxies often obscured by dust. Dust particles absorb and re-emit about half of the stellar radiation in space, making it very difficult to see distant objects with ground-based telescopes. This is where Webb comes into play.
Nature’s Magnifying Lens: Gravity Lens The
team used a gravitational lens called “Nature’s Magnifying Lens” to help Webb. This expansion phenomenon occurs when he two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned as seen from Earth. As a result, the light from the background galaxy is distorted by the foreground galaxy and magnified into a ring, forming an “Einstein ring”.
Discovery of Old and Dusty Galaxy, SPT0418-47
Research focused on object SPT0418-47, discovered by the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Telescope. This galaxy, her 12 billion light-years from Earth, was magnified 30-35 times by gravitational lensing. That age corresponds to a time when the universe was less than 1.5 billion years old, or about 10% of its current age.
Solving the Mystery of SPT0418-47
Before Webb and gravitational lensing, researchers struggled to see the actual background galaxy behind the dust. Data from JWST show that the interstellar gas buried in SPT0418-47 is rich in heavy elements, indicating that the star has already died out for several generations. The discovered molecules are known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and are thought to be the earliest forms of the building blocks of life.
Insights into galaxy formation and evolution
According to Fadke, the new data will allow scientists to observe the atomic and molecular composition of galaxies for the first time. This breakthrough information provides valuable insight into the formation, life cycle and evolution of galaxies.
Revolutionary Discovery and Bright Future
The detection of such complex organic molecules at such long distances is a turning point in observational astronomy. Vieira expressed his excitement and anticipation for the future research enabled by this groundbreaking discovery, saying this is just the beginning of a long and enlightening journey.
