James Webb discovers a new, highly compressed galaxy

Indeed, it is undeniable how much the James Webb satellite has helped science. Launched in 2021, the satellite reached its “residence” point early last year, and since then it’s been delivering a new incredible scientific discovery every week.

All this is due to the way the satellite was built, as its more advanced technology allows not only to improve the resolution of satellite images, but also allows us to look millions or even billions of years into the past.

For those who didn’t understand the last sentence, here’s a quick explanation. Light is the fastest matter in the universe, but it still has a limit. Therefore, the Universe being immeasurably gigantic, it takes billions of years, many times over, for light to reach Earth.

In addition, light has different lengths, known as “waves”. These waves are what distinguishes, for example, gamma radiation (light) from visible radiation, that is, colors.

James Webb is able to catch infrared, that is, a length of light that has traveled so long that it is now “weak.” Thus, we can see through the images of this satellite the lights that were emitted a long time ago. Soon, we see the farthest reaches of the universe.

What do we know about the “merged” galaxy?

latest discovery, published in the journal Sciences, from a galaxy seen about 13.3 billion years ago. This galaxy has attracted a lot of attention from scientists due to its small size. After all, it is about a thousand times smaller than the Milky Way, only 100 light-years wide.

In addition to its small size, another problem that caught the attention of scientists was the fact that this galaxy has very rapid star formation. Its star formation is impressive because it is young, that is, it contains less matter.

For comparison purposes, this new (actually old) galaxy has a star formation rate equal to or greater than that of the Milky Way, which is a thousand times greater.

It is also worth noting that visualizing this galaxy was only possible thanks to the phenomenon of gravitational reversal.

This phenomenon occurs when a galaxy or celestial body is so massive that it distorts the light around it. So sometimes it allows the viewer to see galaxies or other objects behind that galaxy, as in the following image: