(ORDO NEWS) — Researchers from Amherst University (USA), having studied the data obtained by the James Webb Space Observatory (JWST), came to the conclusion that in the galaxy GS-9209, the formation of new stars stopped more than 12.5 billion years ago.
That is, a little over a billion years after the Big Bang. Thus, in some galaxies, activity ceased even when the Universe was very young.
The galaxy GS-9209 was discovered at the beginning of the 21st century.
In the past few years, observations with ground-based telescopes have identified it as a possible extinct galaxy based on the wavelengths of the light it emits.
But the Earth‘s atmosphere absorbs infrared waves, so it was impossible to know for sure about the cessation of star formation in GS-9209.
Astrophysicists at Amherst University, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, which is not hindered by Earth’s atmosphere as it is in space, have found that GS-9209 formed most of its stars in just 200 million years.
This is a very short period of time on a cosmic scale. Such a rapid process of star formation indicates that GS-9209 was formed from a huge cloud of gas and dust.
Astronomers used to believe that this mode of galaxy formation, called monolithic collapse, was the primary way most galaxies formed.
But this idea fell out of favor, replaced by the hypothesis that large galaxies are formed as a result of the merger (absorption) of many smaller ones, which in turn were formed from clouds of dust and gas.
Thus, astrophysicists from Amherst University have shown that a similar way of forming galaxies really happened in the Universe.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.