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Vivid portrait of interacting galaxies marks Webb’s second anniversary
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By NASA
5 Min Read Webb Finds Early Galaxies Weren’t Too Big for Their Britches After All
This image shows a small portion of the field observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. The full image appears below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Finkelstein (University of Texas) It got called the crisis in cosmology. But now astronomers can explain some surprising recent discoveries.
When astronomers got their first glimpses of galaxies in the early universe from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, they were expecting to find galactic pipsqueaks, but instead they found what appeared to be a bevy of Olympic bodybuilders. Some galaxies appeared to have grown so massive, so quickly, that simulations couldn’t account for them. Some researchers suggested this meant that something might be wrong with the theory that explains what the universe is made of and how it has evolved since the big bang, known as the standard model of cosmology.
According to a new study in the Astrophysical Journal led by University of Texas at Austin graduate student Katherine Chworowsky, some of those early galaxies are in fact much less massive than they first appeared. Black holes in some of these galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are.
“We are still seeing more galaxies than predicted, although none of them are so massive that they ‘break’ the universe,” Chworowsky said.
The evidence was provided by Webb’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, led by Steven Finkelstein, a professor of astronomy at UT Austin and study co-author.
Image A : CEERS Deep Field (NIRCam)
This image shows a small portion of the field observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. It is filled with galaxies. Some galaxies appear to have grown so massive, so quickly, that simulations couldn’t account for them. However, a new study finds that some of those early galaxies are in fact much less massive than they first appeared. Black holes in some of those galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are. NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Finkelstein (University of Texas)
View 8k pixel full resolution version of the image
Black Holes Add to Brightness
According to this latest study, the galaxies that appeared overly massive likely host black holes rapidly consuming gas. Friction in the fast-moving gas emits heat and light, making these galaxies much brighter than they would be if that light emanated just from stars. This extra light can make it appear that the galaxies contain many more stars, and hence are more massive, than we would otherwise estimate. When scientists remove these galaxies, dubbed “little red dots” (based on their red color and small size), from the analysis, the remaining early galaxies are not too massive to fit within predictions of the standard model.
“So, the bottom line is there is no crisis in terms of the standard model of cosmology,” Finkelstein said. “Any time you have a theory that has stood the test of time for so long, you have to have overwhelming evidence to really throw it out. And that’s simply not the case.”
Efficient Star Factories
Although they’ve settled the main dilemma, a less thorny problem remains: There are still roughly twice as many massive galaxies in Webb’s data of the early universe than expected from the standard model. One possible reason might be that stars formed more quickly in the early universe than they do today.
“Maybe in the early universe, galaxies were better at turning gas into stars,” Chworowsky said.
Star formation happens when hot gas cools enough to succumb to gravity and condense into one or more stars. But as the gas contracts, it heats up, generating outward pressure. In our region of the universe, the balance of these opposing forces tends to make the star formation process very slow. But perhaps, according to some theories, because the early universe was denser than today, it was harder to blow gas out during star formation, allowing the process to go faster.
More Evidence of Black Holes
Concurrently, astronomers have been analyzing the spectra of “little red dots” discovered with Webb, with researchers in both the CEERS team and others finding evidence of fast-moving hydrogen gas, a signature of black hole accretion disks. This supports the idea that at least some of the light coming from these compact, red objects comes from gas swirling around black holes, rather than stars – reinforcing Chworowsky and their team’s conclusion that they are probably not as massive as astronomers initially thought. However, further observations of these intriguing objects are incoming, and should help solve the puzzle about how much light comes from stars versus gas around black holes.
Often in science, when you answer one question, that leads to new questions. While Chworowsky and their colleagues have shown that the standard model of cosmology likely isn’t broken, their work points to the need for new ideas in star formation.
“And so there is still that sense of intrigue,” Chworowsky said. “Not everything is fully understood. That’s what makes doing this kind of science fun, because it’d be a terribly boring field if one paper figured everything out, or there were no more questions to answer.”The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
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Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Marc Airhart – mairhart@austin.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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ARTICLE: Webb Science – Galaxies Through Time
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Last Updated Aug 26, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
Astrophysics Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Science & Research The Universe View the full article
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On July 19, 2024, NASA officially named Johnson Space Center’s building 12 the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.” A portrait of Dorothy Vaughan is now the central feature at the entrance of the newly named building. This portrait was hand-painted by Eliza Hoffman, an accomplished artist who is also a recent graduate from Clear Creek Independent School District.
Recent Clear Creek Independent School District graduate and artist Eliza Hoffman hand-painted a portrait of Dorothy Vaughan in honor of the Women of Apollo. The handcrafted portrait of Vaughan took about a month to complete. The photo the Vaughan family wanted to use for the ceremony was black and white, so Hoffman had to brainstorm how to bring the photo to life in living color. This led her to search for colorized versions of the reference photo on the internet to guide her in the painting process. She revealed that she first learned of Vaughan from the movie “Hidden Figures,” which she was inspired to watch after reading the book “Women in Space” throughout her childhood.
When privately revealing the artwork to the Vaughan family, Hoffman felt their emotion and joy. She reflected, “I am honored to have the family of such a great woman be so moved by my painting. It is a memory that I will always remember.”
NASA’s Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche greets artist Eliza Hoffman at the surprise unveiling of Dorothy Vaughan’s painted portrait in the main hallway of the Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.NASA/David DeHoyos Hoffman shared that “One of the great things about making art is that it communicates information about the subject and its emotion to the audience. In this case, I was given the chance to create a portrait which will help inform people for years to come about Dorothy Vaughan’s life and legacy.”
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, it was noted to Hoffman that her portrait will now become a part of Johnson’s history. Through Hoffman’s research on Vaughan, she noticed that Vaughan was not only a person beloved by many but also a woman that walked with humility and gentleness, which she hopes viewers see in her painting.
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By NASA
NASA/SAO/CXC This montage contains 25 new images with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory that is being released to commemorate the telescope’s 25th anniversary in space, as described in our latest press release. Since its launch into space on July 23, 1999, Chandra has been NASA’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy in its fleet of “Great Observatories.” Chandra discovers exotic new phenomena and examines old mysteries, looking at objects within our own Solar System out to nearly the edge of the observable Universe.
There is a broad range of astronomical objects in this collection. At the center is one of Chandra’s most iconic targets, the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A). This was one of the very first objects observed by Chandra after its launch in 1999, and astronomers have often returned to observe Cas A with Chandra since then.
Chandra quickly discovered a point source of X-rays in Cas A’s center for the first time, later confirmed to be a neutron star. Later Chandra was used to discover evidence for a “superfluid” inside Cas A’s neutron star, to reveal that the original massive star may have turned inside out as it exploded, and to take an important step in pinpointing how giant stars explode.
The Cassiopeia A supernova remnant has been observed for more than 2 million seconds since the start of the Chandra mission in 1999. X-rays from Chandra (blue); infrared from Webb (orange, white, and blue)X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/D. Milisavljevic (Purdue Univ.), I. De Looze (UGent), T. Temim (Princeton Univ.); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, J. Schmidt and K. Arcand The unmatched sharpness of Chandra’s X-ray images are perfect for studying the hot debris and energetic particles remaining behind after supernova explosions. Other examples in this new collection include the Crab Nebula, G21.5-0.9, MSH 15-52, and SN 1987A. Chandra also probes the different branches of stellar evolution such as “planetary nebulas” when stars like the Sun run out of fuel and shed their outer layers as seen in the Chandra image of HB 5.
Chandra also looks at what happens at the start of the stellar life cycle, providing information about some of the youngest and most massive stars. Images of these stellar nurseries in the “25 for 25” montage include the Orion Nebula, Cat’s Paw, M16 (a.k.a., the “Pillars of Creation”), the Bat Shadow and NGC 3324. A view of a more mature star cluster, NGC 3532, is also included. X-ray data are particularly useful for studying objects like this because young stars are often copious producers of X-rays, allowing stars that are members of clusters to be picked out of a foreground or background of older objects. Chandra’s sharp images and sensitivity also allow many more sources to be seen.
This region of star formation contains the Pillars of Creation, which was made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope. Chandra detects X-rays from young stars in the region, including one embedded in a pillar. X-rays from Chandra (red and blue); infrared image from Webb (red, green, and blue)X-ray: NASA/CXO/SAO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare Chandra observes galaxies — including our own Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole resides at its center. Chandra also studies other galaxies and this is represented in the new images of NGC 7469, Centaurus A, NGC 6872, NGC 1365, and Arp 220.
Astronomers look at even larger structures like galaxy clusters with Chandra, where hundreds or thousands of galaxies are immersed in multimillion-degree gas that only an X-ray telescope can detect. In this release of images, M86 and the Virgo cluster, Abell 2125, and MACS J0035 are examples of galaxy clusters Chandra has observed.
Closer to home, Chandra has contributed to the study of planets and comets in our own Solar System including Venus, Mars, Saturn, and even Earth itself. This ability to explore the Solar System is represented by the image of aurora on Jupiter, captured in X-rays, in this collection.
A full list of the 25 images celebrating Chandra’s 25th, along with the data included and what the colors represent, is available at https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/25th/more.html.
Images of some of these objects had previously been released, but now include new X-ray data or have been combined with different data from other telescopes. Some of these objects have never been released before with Chandra data.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory
Visual Description:
This image shows a collection of 25 new space images celebrating the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s 25th anniversary. The images are arranged in a grid, displayed as five images across in five separate rows. Starting from the upper left, and going across each row, the objects imaged are: Crab Nebula, Orion Nebula, The Eyes Galaxies, Cat’s Paw Nebula, Milky Way’s Galactic Center, M16, Bat Shadow, NGC 7469, Virgo Cluster, WR 124, G21.5-0.9, Centaurus A, Cassiopeia A, NGC 3532, NGC 6872, Hb 5, Abell 2125, NGC 3324, NGC 1365, MSH 15-52, Arp 220, Jupiter, NGC 1850, MACS J0035, SN 1987A.
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