PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST

Studying “teenage galaxies” from the ancient universe can teach scientists about how these massive systems of stars mature and evolve

Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST
2023-11-20
(Press-News.org) Pasadena, CA—Galaxies that formed just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang are unusually hot and glow with light from surprising elements, like nickel, according to new work led by Carnegie’s Gwen Rudie and Northwestern University’s Allison Strom. Studying “teenage galaxies” from the ancient universe can teach scientists about how these massive systems of stars mature and evolve.

Their findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, are part of the CECILIA (Chemical Evolution Constrained using Ionized Lines in Interstellar Aurorae) survey, developed by Rudie and Strom—a former Carnegie postdoc. Last July, they pointed JWST at 33 specially selected ancient galaxies whose light traveled more than 10 billion years to reach us and stared with the new telescope for more than a day, providing the most detailed view of these early galaxies yet captured.

In the universe’s youth, many galaxies, including the 33 chosen for this study, experienced a period of intense star formation. Today, some galaxies, such as our own Milky Way, still form new stars, albeit not as rapidly. Other galaxies have stopped forming stars altogether. This new work can help astronomers understand the reasons behind these different trajectories.

“We’re trying to understand how galaxies grew and changed over the 14 billion years of cosmic history,” said first author Allison Strom. “Using the JWST, our program targets teenage galaxies when they were going through a messy time of growth spurts and change. Teenagers often have experiences that determine their trajectories into adulthood. For galaxies, it’s the same.”

The CECILIA team studied the spectra from these distant galaxies, separating their light into its component wavelengths, just as a prism spreads sunlight into the colors of the rainbow.  Looking at the light in this way helps astronomers measure the temperature and chemical composition of cosmic sources.

“We averaged together the spectra from all 33 galaxies to create the deepest spectrum of a distant galaxy ever seen—which it would take 600 hours of telescope time to replicate,” Rudie explained. “This enabled us to create an atlas, of sorts, that will inform future JWST observations of very distant objects.”

Using the spectra, the researchers were able to identify eight distinct elements: Hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, argon and nickel.

“These elements existing in these galaxies is not a surprise, but our ability to measure their light is unprecedented and shows the power of JWST,” said Rudie.

All elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium form inside stars. When stars explode in violent events like supernovae, they spew these elements out into the cosmic surroundings, where they are incorporated into the next stellar generation. So, by revealing the presence of certain elements in these early galaxies, astronomers can learn about how star formation changes over the course of their evolution. 

The CECILIA team were surprised by the presence of nickel, which is particularly difficult to observe.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would see nickel,” Strom said. “Even in nearby galaxies, people don’t observe this. There has to be enough of an element present in a galaxy and the right conditions to observe it. No one ever talks about observing nickel. Elements have to be glowing in gas in order for us to see them. So, in order for us to see nickel, there may be something unique about the stars within the galaxies.” 

"JWST is still a very new observatory," added co-author Ryan Trainor of Franklin & Marshall College. "Astronomers around the world are still trying to figure out the best ways to analyze the data we receive from the telescope." 

Another surprise: The teenage galaxies were extremely hot. By examining the spectra, physicists can calculate a galaxy’s temperature. While the hottest pockets with galaxies can reach over 9,700 degrees Celsius or 17,492 degrees Fahrenheit, the teenage galaxies clock in at higher than 13,350 degrees Celsius or 24,062 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“We expected these early galaxies to have very, very different chemistry from our own Milky Way and the galaxies that surround us today,” Rudie said. “But we were still surprised by what JWST revealed.”

The project was named in honor of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who did pioneering work on the chemistry of our Sun nearly 100 years ago. Her findings upended the scientific community’s understanding of the Sun’s composition, and she faced unfair criticism for years before her breakthrough work was finally recognized.

“Naming our JWST survey after Cecilia Payne was intended to pay homage to her pioneering studies of the chemical makeup of stars. Allison and I recognize that our own work revealing the chemistry of these very early galaxies is built upon her legacy.” Rudie said.

CECILIA was the first of six initial JWST projects led by Carnegie and Carnegie-affiliated astronomers selected to make observations using the incredible space telescope. Earlier this year, another four Carnegie-led initiatives were chosen for the second cycle of JWST time allocations.

__________________

This work was supported by NASA, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute and from the W.M. Keck Observatory.

The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with three research divisions on both coasts. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in the life and environmental sciences, Earth and planetary science, and astronomy and astrophysics.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST 2

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Litigating the Pandemic

2023-11-20
When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States, healthcare workers faced new demands, childcare and grocery store workers became essential workers, businesses shut down, and churches and school doors closed. The pandemic also arrived amidst protests over police violence. Deep partisan divisions and record natural disasters amplified these challenges. The national government offered new funding for businesses and individuals and public health guidance, and local governments issued guidelines for gathering in public.  Litigating the Pandemic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023), a new book by Susan Sterett, professor ...

Personalized cancer medicine: humans make better treatment decisions than AI

Personalized cancer medicine: humans make better treatment decisions than AI
2023-11-20
Treating cancer is becoming increasingly complex, but also offers more and more possibilities. After all, the better a tumor’s biology and genetic features are understood, the more treatment approaches there are. To be able to offer patients personalized therapies tailored to their disease, laborious and time-consuming analysis and interpretation of various data is required. Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have now studied whether generative artificial intelligence ...

Genomic study links cannabis abuse to multiple health problems

2023-11-20
New Haven, Conn. — A Yale-led analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people has shed light on the underlying biology of cannabis use disorder and its links to psychiatric disorders, abuse of other substances such as tobacco, and possibly even an elevated risk of developing lung cancer. For the study, researchers examined a genome-wide set of genetic variants in individuals from multiple ancestry groups enrolled in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Million Veteran Program, one of the world’s largest genetic databases, and ...

Younger people are more vulnerable to the effects of cardiovascular risk associated with high blood cholesterol and hypertension

Younger people are more vulnerable to the effects of cardiovascular risk associated with high blood cholesterol and hypertension
2023-11-20
Young people may be more susceptible to the effects of the risk factors for developing atherosclerosis. According to a study carried out at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), younger people are especially vulnerable to the damaging effects of elevated blood cholesterol and hypertension, two of the major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. These findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, underline the need to implement aggressive control of cardiovascular risk factors at younger ages, requiring a change in primary prevention strategies to include “surveillance of subclinical atherosclerosis ...

Creativity in the age of generative AI: a new era of creative partnerships

2023-11-20
Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have showcased its potential in a wide range of creative activities such as to produce works of art, compose symphonies, and even draft legal texts, slide presentations or the like. These developments have raised concerns that AI will outperform humans in creativity tasks and make knowledge workers redundant. These comments are most recently underlined by a Fortune article entitled ‘Elon Musk says AI will create a future where ‘no job is needed’: ‘The AI will be able to do everything’. In ...

Ambegaonkar studying physical & mental workload & recovery in collegiate dancers

2023-11-20
Ambegaonkar Studying Physical & Mental Workload & Recovery In Collegiate Dancers  Jatin Ambegaonkar, Professor, School of Kinesiology, received funding for the project: "Physical and mental workload and recovery in collegiate dancers."  He and his collaborators, Kelley Wiese (PhD Student, CEHD – Kinesiology concentration) and Dr. Jena Hansen-Honeycutt (School of Dance, CVPA) aim to comprehensively assess the workload in collegiate dancers over the academic year.   Specifically, they are examining objective physical activity demands ...

Big-data study explores social factors affecting child health

2023-11-20
A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has used an AI-based approach to uncover underlying patterns among the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, termed social determinants of health (SDoH), and then linked each pattern to children’s health outcomes. Compared with traditional approaches, the strategy, in principle, provides a more objective and comprehensive picture of potential social factors that affect child health, which in turn, can enable better targeted interventions. As reported Oct. 16 in JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers analyzed data on more than 10,500 American children, in communities across 17 U.S. ...

Dere to make updates to CHIANTI atomic database & software

2023-11-20
Dere To Make Updates To CHIANTI Atomic Database & Software Kenneth Dere, Research Professor, Physics and Astronomy, received funding from NASA for: "Updates to the CHIANTI atomic database and software." CHIANTI is a database that contains a large quantity of atomic data for the analysis of astrophysical spectra.  Dere will also conduct maintenance on and make improvements to the ChiantiPy software package.  ChiantiPy is the Python interface to the CHIANTI atomic database for astrophysical ...

Want better AI? Get input from a real (human) expert

Want better AI? Get input from a real (human) expert
2023-11-20
RICHLAND, Wash.—Can AI be trusted? The question pops up wherever AI is used or discussed—which, these days, is everywhere.   It’s a question that even some AI systems ask themselves.   Many machine-learning systems create what experts call a “confidence score,” a value that reflects how confident the system is in its decisions. A low score tells the human user that there is some uncertainty about the recommendation; a high score indicates to the human user that the system, at least, is quite sure of its decisions. Savvy humans know to check the confidence score when ...

Boomerang-like beams of light

Boomerang-like beams of light
2023-11-20
Researchers at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics have superposed two light beams twisted in the clockwise direction to create anti-clockwise twists in the dark regions of the resultant superposition. The results of the research have been published in the prestigious journal “Optica”. This discovery has implications for the study of light-matter interactions and represents a step towards the observation of a peculiar phenomenon known as a quantum backflow. “Imagine that you are throwing a tennis ball. The ball starts moving forward with positive momentum. If the ball doesn’t hit an obstacle, you are unlikely to expect it to suddenly ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Hotter temps trigger wetlands to emit more methane as microbes struggle to keep up

ATP prevents harmful aggregation of proteins associated with Parkinson’s and ALS

Water quality could be degraded by development and conversion of forests upstream, with sediment levels and nitrogen concentrations also worsened, per modelling analysis of the Middle Chattahoochee wa

The antibiotic that takes the bite out of Lyme

Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome may be driven by remnants of infection

Engineering a robot that can jump 10 feet high – without legs

EMBARGOED: Could this molecule be “checkmate” for coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2?

Could this molecule be “checkmate” for coronaviruses like SARS- CoV-2?

Caltech's smart bandage clears new hurdle: monitors chronic wounds in human patients

Researchers identify pathway responsible for calciphylaxis, a rare and serious condition

FRESH bioprinting brings vascularized tissue one step closer

Chinese scientists prove swamp forest collapse linked to human activity

London’s low emission zones save lives and money, new study finds

University of Houston engineer reinvents ceramics with origami-inspired 3D printing

How an antimalarial drug could help fix genetic diseases

Severe, lasting impairment that some consider ‘worse than death’ affects many residents after long-term care admission

Cognitive and functional decline among long-term care residents

Screening and response for adverse social determinants of health in US emergency departments

How DNA self-organizes in the early embryo

Remembering the cold: scientists discover how memories control metabolism

Phoenician culture spread mainly through cultural exchange

Smoking cessation drug varenicline helps young adults quit vaping

How bacteria in our aging guts can elevate risk of leukemia and perhaps more

Four generations help science explore genome mutation rate

Mathematician and biochemist win transdisciplinary research prize

U.S. Dementia costs to exceed $780 billion this year

Childhood exposure to bacterial toxin may be triggering colorectal cancer epidemic among the young

Epigenetic aging detected in baboons, but physical decline not clearly linked

Statin use may improve survival in patients with some blood cancers

Latest ACS cancer prevention and early detection report: Smoking rates continue historic drop, but cervical cancer prevention is lagging

[Press-News.org] Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST
Studying “teenage galaxies” from the ancient universe can teach scientists about how these massive systems of stars mature and evolve