MSGID: 1:317/3 63fd836c   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe    
      
     Date:   
         February 27, 2023   
     Source:   
         Cornell University   
     Summary:   
         While analyzing data from the first images of a well-known   
         early galaxy taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),   
         astronomers discovered a companion galaxy previously hidden behind   
         the light of the foreground galaxy -- one that surprisingly seems   
         to have already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its   
         young age, estimated at 1.4 billion years old.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   While analyzing data from the first images of a well-known early galaxy   
   taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Cornell University   
   astronomers discovered a companion galaxy previously hidden behind the   
   light of the foreground galaxy -- one that surprisingly seems to have   
   already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its young age,   
   estimated at 1.4 billion years old.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   "We found this galaxy to be super-chemically abundant, something none of   
   us expected," said Bo Peng, a doctoral student in astronomy, who led the   
   data analysis. "JWST changes the way we view this system and opens up new   
   venues to study how stars and galaxies formed in the early universe."   
   Peng is the lead author of "Discovery of a Dusty, Chemically Mature   
   Companion to z~4 Starburst Galaxy in JWST Early Release Science Data,"   
   published in theAstrophysical Journal Letters.   
      
   Earlier images captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter   
   Array (ALMA) in Chile contained hints of the companion resolved clearly   
   by JSWT, but couldn't be interpreted as anything more than random noise,   
   said Amit Vishwas, a research associate at the Cornell Center for   
   Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences (CCAPS) and the paper's second author.   
      
   The team estimated the companion galaxy, which they labeled SPT0418-SE,   
   was within 5 kiloparsecs of SPT0418-47, one of the brightest dusty,   
   star-forming galaxies in the early universe, its distant light bent   
   and magnified by a foreground galaxy's gravity into a circle, called an   
   Einstein ring. The Magellanic Clouds, satellites of the Milky Way are   
   about 50 kiloparsecs away.   
      
   The proximity suggests these galaxies are bound to interact with each   
   other and potentially even merge, an observation that adds to the   
   understanding of how early galaxies may have evolved into larger ones.   
      
   The two galaxies are modest in mass as galaxies in the early universe go,   
   with "SE" relatively smaller and less dusty, making it appear bluer than   
   the extremely dust-obscured ring. Based on images of nearby galaxies   
   with similar colors, the researchers suggest that they may reside   
   "in a massive dark-matter halo with yet-to-be-discovered neighbors."   
   Most surprising about the companion galaxy, considering its age and mass,   
   was its mature metallicity -- amounts of elements heavier than helium   
   and hydrogen, such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. The team estimated   
   that as comparable to our sun, which is more than 4 billion years old   
   and inherited most of its metals from previous generations of stars that   
   had 8 billion years to build them up.   
      
   "We are seeing the leftovers of at least a couple of generations of   
   stars having lived and died within the first billion years of the   
   universe's existence, which is not what we typically see," Vishwas   
   said. "We speculate that the process of forming stars in these galaxies   
   must have been very efficient and started very early in the universe,   
   particularly to explain the measured abundance of nitrogen relative to   
   oxygen, as this ratio is a reliable measure of how many generations of   
   stars have lived and died."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Space_&_Time   
                   # Galaxies # Astrophysics # Stars # Astronomy # Cosmology   
                   # Big_Bang # Solar_System # Nebulae   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Spitzer_space_telescope o Andromeda_Galaxy o   
             Barred_spiral_galaxy o Milky_Way o Globular_cluster o Galaxy   
             o Planetary_nebula o Large-scale_structure_of_the_cosmos   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written   
   by James Dean, courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle. Note: Content may be   
   edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Bo Peng, Amit Vishwas, Gordon Stacey, Thomas Nikola, Cody Lamarche,   
         Christopher Rooney, Catie Ball, Carl Ferkinhoff, Henrik   
         Spoon. Discovery of a Dusty, Chemically Mature Companion to a z ~   
         4 Starburst Galaxy in JWST ERS Data. The Astrophysical Journal   
         Letters, 2023; 944 (2): L36 DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/acb59c   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230227161428.htm   
      
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