Updated Dec 5, 2023 | 05:24 AM IST
A dusty galaxy that produces hundreds of stars every year has been discovered in deep space by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), DailyMail reported. The galaxy, AzTECC71, which was formed roughly 900 million years after the Big Bang, was identified by astronomers at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin when they noticed the unsettling red blob in the telescope’s data.
All of the JWST’s images are data visualisations recreated by artists and not actual photos of the comic objects.
A dusty galaxy that produces hundreds of stars every year has been discovered in deep space by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The galaxy, AzTECC71, which was formed roughly 900 million years after the Big Bang, was identified by astronomers at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin when they noticed the unsettling red blob in the telescope’s data.
Jed McKinney, a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin, said: ‘This thing is a real monster. Even though it looks like a little blob, it’s actually forming hundreds of new stars every year.
‘And the fact that even something that extreme is barely visible in the most sensitive imaging from our newest telescope is so exciting to me. It’s potentially telling us there’s a whole population of galaxies that have been hiding from us.’
An artist’s impression of AzTECC71 shows an unsettling image of two eyes and a large open mouth.
The JWST’s images are not real pictures of the comic objects; rather, they are all artistic recreations of data visualisations.
The bright blob of AzTECC71 was first detected by ground-based telescopes, but Hubble Space Telescope photos showed it had disappeared.
Because a thick layer of dust absorbs much of the light from dusty galaxies’ stars and reemits it at longer or redder wavelengths, they have proven difficult to photograph.
But JWST has made this possible due to its ability to capture infrared properties, DailyMail reported.
‘Until now, the only way we’ve been able to see galaxies in the early universe is from an optical perspective with Hubble,’ McKinney said.
‘That means our understanding of the history of galaxy evolution is biased because we’re only seeing the unobscured, less dusty galaxies.’
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
