The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was utilized by researchers in order to make the discovery of three of the universe’s oldest galaxies. They came into being fewer than 400 million years after the Big Bang, which occurred 13.4 billion years ago, when the age of the universe was barely 2% of what it is now. The iconic Hubble Ultra Deep Field image was captured in the same region of the night sky where the galaxies were confirmed to have been located.
When JWST began its operations during the summer of 2016, there were very immediately many extreme candidates for the most remote galaxy ever found. Now, scientists working on the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Initial have carried out extensive studies to confirm four of them by quantifying the distances between them and the physical features of their objects.
Spectroscopy is the process by which astronomers create a spectrum-like image by splitting the light that they have collected into its component wavelengths. Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, is one of the instruments on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Its purpose is to collect data in nine distinct infrared wavelength bands using data from the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
Because of the expansion of the universe, the color of light that is very old is red. The wavelength of red light is the longest of all colors. The so-called “redshift” that was measured by the NIRCam on board the JWST for four different galaxies was 10.38, 11.58, 13.20, and 12.63. As a result, three of these galaxies are the most distant galaxies that have been confirmed by spectroscopy to this day.
The recent discoveries, which have already been made available online, will be discussed at length during a symposium titled “First Science Results from JWST” that will take place in Baltimore on December 12, 2022 and be hosted by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).
