A team investigating data from Webb’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey has already identified seven galaxies that existed when the universe was only 540 to 660 million years old. Some of the evidence is displayed above: Three lines appear in the same order – one hydrogen line followed by two ionized oxygen lines in each spectrum. Where this pattern falls reveals the redshift of each galaxy, showing researchers how long ago their light was emitted. CEERS 24 and CEERS 23 emitted their light 13.3 billion years ago, and CEERS 3 emitted its light 13.2 billion years ago.
Webb was not only the first to deliver images of these galaxies, but also the precise, highly detailed data known as spectra that reveal their compositions. “Some of the galaxies weren’t detected in previous deep fields, like the pioneering images from the Hubble Space Telescope,” explained Seiji Fujimoto, the CEERS researcher who led these discoveries and is based at the University of Texas at Austin. “This set, along with other distant galaxies we identify in the future, might change our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic history.”
Researchers have long expected to make these discoveries, but until Webb began its operations, they didn’t have sensitive enough space-based infrared instruments to capture extremely distant galaxies, which appear as miniature red dots in Webb’s images. “It’s very exciting to finally begin detailing the precise distances of these galaxies with Webb,” said Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin, who leads the CEERS program.
What’s next for the team? “We’ll start characterizing these galaxies in detail, which are much fainter than any we’ve detected before,” Fujimoto added. “There is a lot more research to be done with these data and we are almost guaranteed to run into more surprises.”
Credits
Image
NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI)
Science
Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Seiji Fujimoto (UT Austin), Pablo Arrabal Haro (NSF's NOIRLab)
