Astronomers Discover Ancient Galaxy Using Gravitational Lensing
Gravitational lens shows a galaxy just 800 million years post-Big Bang
Ars Technica
Image: Ars Technica
Astronomers have identified an ultra-faint galaxy named LAP1-B, existing just 800 million years after the Big Bang, using the James Webb Space Telescope. This discovery, aided by gravitational lensing from a nearby galaxy cluster, reveals the galaxy's primitive nature and its mass, which is significantly smaller than that of the Milky Way.
- 01LAP1-B is the most chemically primitive galaxy observed to date.
- 02The galaxy exists 13 billion light-years away from Earth.
- 03Gravitational lensing from the MACS J046 cluster magnified LAP1-B's light by 100-fold.
- 04LAP1-B's stellar mass is estimated to be equal to 3,300 Suns.
- 05This discovery sheds light on the early formation of galaxies in the universe.
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Astronomers have successfully observed an ultra-faint galaxy known as LAP1-B, which existed approximately 800 million years after the Big Bang. This remarkable finding was made possible through the use of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the gravitational lensing effect caused by a massive galaxy cluster called MACS J046. The light from LAP1-B, located 13 billion light-years away from Earth, was magnified by about 100-fold due to the warping of spacetime created by the cluster. Despite this enhancement, LAP1-B remains too dim for JWST or Hubble to detect its stellar continuum. However, astronomers, led by Kimihiko Nakajima from Kanazawa University in Japan, deduced that the galaxy's stellar mass is limited to about 3,300 Suns, a stark contrast to the 100 billion solar masses found in the Milky Way. This discovery provides crucial insights into the formation of the universe's earliest galaxies.
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