Six of the Earliest Galaxies: Images and Explanations

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Cosmology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, History of Science

Ed Hessler

NatureBriefing (Nature, 7.2.2023) calls attention to one of today's Nature Briefing stories about the unveiling of results "from one of the deepest astronomical surveys of the night sky carried out by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).  The effort has identified some of the earliest galaxies ever seen -- from within the first 650 million years after the Universe was born in the Big Bang."  Six of the favorite images chosen by astronomers are shown and explained, including what makes them so special."

Here is Alexandra Witte's reporting in Nature Briefing where she whets our palate by describing this accomplishment of JWST, launched in only 2021. 

Before "only a few dozen galaxies had been spotted at redshifts greater than 8. JADES has identified a whopping 717 galaxies that are probably in this range1. Here, astronomers help Nature make sense of the data deluge by choosing some of their favourite galaxies (listed from the most distant to the least) and explaining what the objects can teach us about the early days of the Universe." Llisted below are the names of the images. (bolding mine)

--The Record Holder

--The Glowing Dogbone

--The One With (Maybe) The First Stars

--The Big Clumpy One

--The Inside-Out One

--The Cosmic Rose

There are links to the technical articles which are, well, technical but you may find items in them that interest you, including images.