It is indeed undeniable how much the James Webb satellite has helped Science. The satellite, launched in 2021, reached its “residence” point at the beginning of last year, and since then it has provided a new and incredible scientific discovery practically every week.
This is all due to the way the satellite was built, as its more advanced technology not only allows for better resolution of images from space, but also allows us to look back millions or even billions of years into the past.
For those who didn’t understand the last sentence, here’s a quick explanation. Light is the fastest matter in the Universe, but it still has a limit. Therefore, since the Universe is immeasurably gigantic, it often takes billions of years for light to reach Earth.
Furthermore, light has different lengths, known as “waves”. These waves are what differentiate, for example, gamma radiation (light) from visible radiation, that is, colors.
James Webb is capable of capturing infrared radiation, that is, a wavelength of light that has traveled a long time and is now “weak”. Therefore, we can see, through images from this satellite, lights that were emitted a long time ago. Therefore, we see the most distant past of the Universe.
What do we know about the ‘compact’ galaxy?
The latest discovery, published in the journal Sciencewas of a galaxy seen about 13.3 billion years ago. This galaxy attracted a lot of attention from scientists because of its small size. After all, it is about a thousand times smaller than the Milky Way, measuring only 100 light-years in diameter.
In addition to its tiny size, another issue that caught scientists’ attention was the fact that this galaxy has a very rapid star formation rate. Its star formation is impressive because it is small, that is, it has less matter.
For comparison purposes, this new (old, in reality) galaxy has a star formation rate equal to or even greater than that of the Milky Way, which is a thousand times greater than it.
It is also worth noting that viewing this galaxy was only possible thanks to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing.
This phenomenon occurs when a galaxy or celestial body is so massive that it distorts the light around it. This sometimes allows the viewer to see other galaxies or objects behind that galaxy, as is the case in the following image:
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