from the most-unexpected-observation-bar-none dept.
Webb Telescope Reveals Unexpected Milky Way-Like Galaxies:
Spiral galaxies are common throughout the universe (our Milky Way is one), and many of them are so-called barred galaxies. At least today they are. These structures appear to develop as spiral galaxies "mature," drawing gas from the periphery in toward the center, where it fuels star formation at a vastly accelerated rate. Looking back in time, astronomers have spotted fewer bars in spiral galaxies, and that led to wide speculation that they had not formed in the early eons of existence.
Now, we have not one but two examples of barred spiral galaxies in the early universe. Webb focused on a galaxy known as EGS-23205, which appears as it did 11 billion years ago. Hubble images of EGS-23205 just show a round blob, but Webb's massive mirror resolves the details of a barred spiral. Above, you can see Hubble's view of EGS-23205 on the left and Webb's on the right. The team went on to spot EGS-24268, another ancient barred spiral about the same age as EGS-23205. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, includes four more barred spirals, though all of those are a few billion years younger.
[...] The discovery that barred spirals were common between 8 and 11 billion years ago challenges current models of galactic evolution. The team plans to test different models in future studies, but the implications for the early universe are notable. For example, ancient galaxies may have been much more active in star formation than expected due to the presence of bars. These structures can also channel matter into the supermassive black holes lurking in the center of large galaxies, increasing their mass at a greater rate than previously known.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Thursday January 12, @06:01AM
https://webbtelescope.org/news [webbtelescope.org]
Also, keep an eye on this if you really care about the minutiae:
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-schedules [stsci.edu]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday January 12, @09:46AM (2 children)
How long would it take for us to reach them?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday January 12, @03:13PM
Well, you can extrapolate some numbers, if you know the approximate number of light years away they are.
Considering the nearest interesting place is over 4 light years away. With speed of light being 299,792,458 meters per second.
The fastest man made object (Helios 2) holds a record of 157078 miles per hour. Which converts to 70220.15 meters per second.
If we divide the speed of light by the fastest object ever, we get 4269.322. Proxima Cenaturi is 4.243 light years from earth.
Just multiply the time it took light to reach Proxima Centauri by the speed difference of the fastest man made object ever and you get 18,114.73 years.
Unless, I made some logic error. It literally doesn't matter how far away the galaxies are at that point. As the closest interesting place to us, is so far beyond our reach.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 12, @04:06PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Thursday January 12, @02:56PM (2 children)
With the universe being 13 billion years old, and these massive, well developed galaxies being imaged at 500 million -> 2 billion years after that, it makes one wonder if we have the age of the universe right, and whether the methods to determine these ages isn't skewed in some way.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday January 12, @03:18PM (1 child)
Science can't accept that as that would break reality as they define it. Unless Quantum comes to their rescue some how. Maybe, dark matter and quantum physics will have a baby. They could call it dark physics and then everyone will be able to bask in it's beautiful light.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 12, @05:47PM
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.