Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
The James Webb Telescope has uncovered three massive "red monster" galaxies, each 100 billion times the mass of our sun, existing just after the Big Bang.
These galaxies, over 12.8 billion years old, formed within a billion years of the Big Bang, challenging theories on the speed of early star formation.
“These massive beasts pose a tantalizing puzzle,” says Stijn Wuyts from the University of Bath, as their rapid growth defies existing galaxy formation models.
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With 80% of their gas transformed into stars, these galaxies are far more efficient star-formers than typical galaxies, which convert only 20%.
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The galaxies’ distinctive red glow is due to JWST’s Near Infrared Camera, which reveals light obscured by cosmic dust in the early universe.
Lead researcher Mengyuan Xiao suggests these findings could reshape our understanding of the universe’s infancy and conditions that led to galaxy growth.
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Known for fast and dense star formation, these red monsters seem to have bypassed limits, expanding astronomers' perspectives on early galaxy evolution.
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Next, JWST and the ALMA telescope in Chile will further explore these red monsters, probing deeper into their structure and formation.
According to Wuyts, JWST is launching a new era in cosmic exploration, with discoveries like the red monsters reshaping theories on galactic evolution.