Webb space telescope shows off ‘amazing’ power by spotting compact galaxy

The james webb telescope has detected a compact galaxy that was formed soon after the big bang. The rate of star formation is impressively fast

The detection of a highly compact galaxy that formed relatively soon after the Big Bang and displayed an impressive rate of star formation is the latest example of how the James Webb Space Telescope is reshaping our understanding of the early universe.

Scientists said the galaxy, dating to 13.3 billion years ago, has a diameter of approximately 100 light-years - about 1,000 times smaller than the Milky Way - but forms new stars at a rate very similar to that of our much-larger present-day galaxy. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

It existed about 510 million years after the Big Bang event marking the universe's origin. The universe at the time was less than 4% of its current age.

The discovery is another example of how observations by Webb, which was launched in 2021 and began collecting data last year, are transforming our knowledge of the nature of the early universe. The orbiting infrared observatory was designed to be far more sensitive than its Hubble Space Telescope predecessor.

"Our current understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe doesn't predict that we would see this many galaxies at such early times in the universe's life, so this is really exciting," said Hayley Williams, a University of Minnesota doctoral student in astrophysics and lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science.

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"As we observe more and more of these distant galaxies, we'll be able to put together a more complete picture of how the first galaxies in our universe came to be," Williams added. "We are seeing that the galaxies that existed in the early universe are very different from the galaxies that exist today and that our usual assumptions about galaxy properties may not apply in the early universe."