Astronomers previously thought it took billions of years for galaxies to become stable enough to form so-called “swaths,” bands of stars and gas that run through the galaxy’s core.
this Milky Way is an example of a barred spiral galaxy.
but a new one James Webb Space Telescope The discovery means scientists may have to throw out what they previously thought they knew about galaxy evolution.An international team has used the leading space Observatory – Cooperation NASA and the European and Canadian Space Agency—in search of the most distant barred spiral galaxy yet.
The galaxy, known as Ceers-2112, was observed with telescopes and appeared in the early days of the universe, when the galaxy was only about 2 billion years old.Given that most scientists believe the universe is 13.8 billion years Today, that period can still be considered the infancy of the universe, shortly after the Big Bang.
Alexander de la Vega, an astronomer at the University of California, Riverside, said the bars in Ceers-2112 could mean the galaxy is maturing much faster than scientists theorize. in a statement.
“The discovery of Ceers-2112 shows that galaxies in the early universe may have been as ordered as the Milky Way,” said de la Vega, a member of the international team that discovered Ceers-2112. Galaxies are much more chaotic.” Early Universe. “
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The research was led by scientists from the Spanish Center for Astrobiology, published in journal nature this week.
Not long ago, NASA announced Barbed spiral galaxies are “latecomers” The study, led by Kartik Sheth of Caltech’s Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, was based on the Cosmic Evolution Survey, which looked at more than 2,000 spiral galaxies in the universe. Hubble Space Telescope Census.
“This is surprising because galaxies in the early universe were much more chaotic.”
These astronomers found far fewer Milky Way-like galaxies 7 billion years ago, when the universe was about half its current age. In the distant past, only 20% of spiral galaxies had strips, while nearly 70% of modern spiral galaxies have strips.Queue, according to previous studies.
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“Bar formation is probably the last important act in the evolution of spiral galaxies,” Sheth said. “Galaxies are thought to build themselves through mergers with other galaxies. After stabilizing, the only other dramatic way galaxies form is Evolution happens through the action of the rod.”
When the orbits of stars near the core of a galaxy become Unstable and stretchedAs the star’s orbit grows larger, they begin to form a bar. The bars grow as their gravity gathers more nearby stars. Eventually, most of the stars in the center of the galaxy will be trapped in the bars.
The team that discovered Ceers-2112 said the discovery means astronomers need to adjust their theories of galaxy formation.This discovery shows that galaxies with these galaxies complex fence structure Even if the universe is very young, it can be detected.