Galaxy Shapes in the Early Universe
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Read the news release: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-104
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Webb CEERS survey image highlighting two galaxies: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin).
- Examples of distant galaxies captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in its Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin).
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Examples of galaxies and star formations such as a pulsar wind nebula, which resembles a human hand.
Text, News from the Universe.
Galaxy shapes in the early universe.
January 29, 2024. Early results from a survey by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope indicate that many galaxy shapes were different in the young universe.
Researchers looked at several thousand galaxies that existed when the universe was 600 million to 6 billion years old.
They found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, rather than the more common spiral and elliptical galaxies we see in the nearby, modern universe.
Galaxies shapes have elongated, disk like, or spherical appearances.
Text, the distant galaxies are also far less massive than nearby spirals and ellipticals. They are precursors to more massive galaxies like our own Milky Way.
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This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.