Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have found two extremely old galaxies from just 300 to 400 million years after the Big Bang. These galaxies are far brighter than expected, causing astronomers to question what they know about how galaxies formed when the universe was young.
“Somehow, the universe has managed to form galaxies faster and earlier than we thought,” said Tommaso Treu, principal investigator for one of JWST’s programs (GLASS-JWST), in a press briefing.
The most distant galaxy identified, called GLASS-z12, is thought to be from 350 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxies were identified in two JWST programs, the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program (Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space) and Cosmic…