James Webb Telescope Uncovers Stunning Discovery: 5-Galaxy Collision from the Early Universe Revealed!

Astronomers recently made a fascinating discovery: a rare group of at least five galaxies merging from the early universe, just 800 million years after the Big Bang. This find comes from a blend of data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Galaxy mergers are vital for understanding how galaxies formed in the early universe. While we usually see pairs merging, this new system, dubbed JWST’s Quintet, stands out with five connected galaxies and 17 galaxy clumps.

“Finding such a system with five linked galaxies is extremely rare,” said Weida Hu, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University. He explained that discovering even one multiple-galaxy merger is uncommon, making the Quintet a remarkable find. Hu referred to it as ‘lucky.’

These galaxies exhibit strong light signs from elements like hydrogen and oxygen, key indicators of new star formation.

The research, published in Nature Astronomy, used data from both the JWST and Hubble. The JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) revealed a large halo of gas surrounding the five galaxies, showing they are connected. This connection suggests they’re part of the same system, highlighting their interaction.

Before this study, some of these galaxies had previously been seen by Hubble. However, only JWST provided detailed evidence of their close relationships, based on something called redshift. This term tracks how light stretches over vast cosmic distances, indicating how far away these galaxies are.

Hu noted that there might be other unseen galaxies within the Quintet. Finding them may require advanced techniques using different wavelengths of light. According to Christopher Conselice, a professor of extragalactic astronomy at the University of Manchester, early universe mergers with more than two galaxies are scarce. He pointed out that among all galaxies, around 20-30% are merging, but the combination of multiple galaxies is likely less than 1%.

The two largest galaxies in the Quintet are about 43,300 light-years apart, with the farthest pair at around 60,700 light-years. This proximity indicates they’ll likely merge in the future. Conselice compared this to our own Milky Way, which spans about 100,000 light-years.

A similar system exists in our local universe called Stephan’s Quintet, which has four merging galaxies and a fifth that is not. Hu noted that both systems have a material bridge connecting some galaxies, hinting at tidal interactions.

Though Stephan’s Quintet consists of older galaxies that are less active, the Quintet discovered by JWST is bursting with gas and forming new stars at an unprecedented rate for its time. This system has a total mass equal to about 10 billion suns. Researchers speculate that it may evolve into a massive quiescent galaxy in about 1 to 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. Such galaxies no longer create new stars, presenting intriguing questions about how this transition can occur so early in the universe.

Future research will probe the potential paths for these merging galaxies. They might become less active star-formers or become completely dormant. Their fate could depend on whether these galaxies host black holes, which might halt star formation quickly.

As we look ahead, if more systems like JWST’s Quintet are discovered, astronomers will gather critical insights. They can better understand how often these mergers occur, the conditions that foster them, and whether they fit into existing models of the universe or demand new explanations.

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