Apparently empty areas of the Universe were made up of very old galaxies. All this was possible to know thanks to the NASA, CSA and ESA Webb Space Telescope.
The understanding of the Universe, our understanding, has changed thanks to the observer.
One of the most popular projects with the Webb Space Telescope is the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS), which can be translated as Early Release Scientific Survey of Cosmic Evolution.
The portal The Debrief spoke with Micaela Bagley, one of the principal researchers at CEERS, explaining the value of the Webb Space Telescope in her work.
“Theoretical models did not predict that these galaxies should be there,” he said. “We still don’t know how you can see a galaxy so bright, so early.”
The Webb detected the existence of the so-called Maisie galaxy, 13 billion years old, one of the oldest ever observed. It originated just 390 million years after the Big Bang.
“When we found it, the surprising part was, how is it in the Universe? It’s exciting that this is the Universe we live in. “It is a Universe with a ton more galaxies than we thought,” Bagley noted.
Although scientists had worked with models of what the first galaxies would be like, finally the Webb Space Telescope lifted the veil: they were wrong. They were much brighter than they had thought, and they confirmed this with Maisie’s galaxy.
“What we see with the Webb Space Telescope “It doesn’t make sense with the models of the Universe we have,” says Georgina Torbett of The Debrief.
For researchers, the oldest stars that must exist are the so-called Population III, those in Population I being the youngest. But, although these are known, those have never been seen.
And for Micaela Bagley, it is possible that with the Webb Space Telescope of NASA, CSA and ESA it can be done. “It’s hopeful and optimistic, I think it’s realistic.”