Extraordinary! James Webb Space Telescope snaps explosive star birth after the Big Bang
The James Webb Space Telescope, often hailed as a time machine, continues to astound scientists and attract the public with its remarkable discoveries. Recently, astronomers utilised this telescope's cutting-edge technology to observe a distant star-forming galaxy, delving into its intricate structure with unprecedented detail.
Harnessing the capabilities of NASA's billion-dollar observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope's Orbiter Spacecraft has unveiled the stellar composition of GN20, one of the earliest-known galaxies in the universe. Situated a staggering 12 billion light years away, this captivating discovery represents a luminous and dust-laden star-forming galaxy of extraordinary brilliance.
What makes GN20 particularly intriguing is its relatively recent formation, occurring a mere 1.5 billion years after the cataclysmic event known as the Big Bang. Positioned within a region of space referred to as a protocluster or galaxy overdensity, this area holds astronomers' fascination due to its eventual culmination in the formation of colossal galactic clusters.
The captivating image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope allows us to peer back in time when the universe was a mere 1.5 billion years old, as it stands at approximately 13.5 million years presently. Astonishingly, this ancient galaxy boasts a star formation rate approximately 1,860 times greater than the mass of our Sun each year. Astronomers, under the guidance of Luis Colina from the Spanish Astrobiology Centre, employed the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to examine GN20's structural properties during November 23-24, 2022.
Analysis of the MIRI images unveiled a clumpy molecular gas surrounding the galaxy, forming a colossal disk spanning about 46,000
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