When the James Webb Space Telescope was launched late last year, the idea was to look back in time and see the moments after the birth of the universe, it has now done exactly that. The most potent observatory in the world has studied the early universe and produced an unexpected discovery.
An incredibly hot quasar is surrounded by a cluster of enormous galaxies that the Webb telescope has seen forming. Astronomers believe that because quasars are a unique and extraordinarily bright subtype of Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), their high emission may have an impact on future star formation.
Webb looked at the quasar named SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 that existed about 11.5 billion years ago, which is unusually red not just because of its intrinsic red color, but also because the galaxy’s light has been redshifted by its vast distance, making it extremely sensitive to the infrared vision of Webb.
Webb’s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) was utilised by astronomers to observe the motion of the quasar’s surrounding outflows and winds. Instead of only collecting spectra from one spot at a time, NIRSpec can collect spectra from the whole field of view of the telescope, allowing Webb to simultaneously study the quasar, its galaxy, and the larger environment.
According to the European Space Agency, spectroscopy is essential for comprehending how the numerous outflows and winds encircling the quasar are moving. The light that the gases release and reflect is altered to the red or blue depending on how quickly and in which direction the gases are moving.
‘There are few galaxy protoclusters known at this early time. It’s hard to find them, and very few have had time to form since the big bang. This may eventually help us understand how galaxies in dense environments evolve. It’s an exciting result,’ astronomer Dominika Wylezalek of Heidelberg University in Germany, who led the study, said in a statement.
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