Credits/Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Chris Willott (NRC-Canada), Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Kartheik Iyer (Columbia)
Credits/Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Chris Willott (NRC-Canada), Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Kartheik Iyer (Columbia)
Illustration of the Firefly Sparkle Galaxy in the Early Universe (Artist's Concept)
Credits/Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Science: Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Guillaume Desprez (Saint Mary's University)
Credits/Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Science: Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Guillaume Desprez (Saint Mary's University)
Credits/Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Chris Willott (NRC-Canada), Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Kartheik Iyer (Columbia)
For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected
and “weighed” a galaxy that not only existed around 600 million years
after the big bang, but is also similar to what our Milky Way galaxy’s
mass might have been at the same stage of development. Other galaxies
Webb has detected at this time period are significantly more massive.
Nicknamed the Firefly Sparkle, this galaxy is gleaming with star
clusters — 10 in all — each of which researchers examined in great
detail.
“I didn’t think it would be possible to resolve a galaxy that existed so early in the universe into so many distinct components, let alone find that its mass is similar to our own galaxy’s when it was in the process of forming,” said Lamiya Mowla, co-lead author of the paper and an assistant professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “There is so much going on inside this tiny galaxy, including so many different phases of star formation.”
Webb was able to image the galaxy in crisp detail for two reasons. One is a benefit of the cosmos: A massive foreground galaxy cluster radically enhanced the distant galaxy’s appearance through a natural effect known as gravitational lensing. And when combined with the telescope’s specialization in high-resolution infrared light, Webb delivered unprecedented new data about the galaxy’s contents.
“Without the benefit of this gravitational lens, we would not be able to resolve this galaxy,” said Kartheik Iyer, a co-lead author and NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University in New York. “We knew to expect it based on current physics, but it’s surprising that we actually saw it.”
Mowla, who spotted the galaxy in Webb’s image, was drawn to its gleaming star clusters, because objects that sparkle typically indicate they are extremely clumpy and complicated. Since the galaxy looks like a “sparkle” or swarm of lightning bugs on a warm summer night, they named it the Firefly Sparkle galaxy.
Reconstructing the Galaxy’s Appearance
Stretched Out and Shining, Ready for Close Analysis
‘Glowing’ Companions
This work has been published on December 11, 2024 in the journal Nature.
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Media Contact:
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Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
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“I didn’t think it would be possible to resolve a galaxy that existed so early in the universe into so many distinct components, let alone find that its mass is similar to our own galaxy’s when it was in the process of forming,” said Lamiya Mowla, co-lead author of the paper and an assistant professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “There is so much going on inside this tiny galaxy, including so many different phases of star formation.”
Webb was able to image the galaxy in crisp detail for two reasons. One is a benefit of the cosmos: A massive foreground galaxy cluster radically enhanced the distant galaxy’s appearance through a natural effect known as gravitational lensing. And when combined with the telescope’s specialization in high-resolution infrared light, Webb delivered unprecedented new data about the galaxy’s contents.
“Without the benefit of this gravitational lens, we would not be able to resolve this galaxy,” said Kartheik Iyer, a co-lead author and NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University in New York. “We knew to expect it based on current physics, but it’s surprising that we actually saw it.”
Mowla, who spotted the galaxy in Webb’s image, was drawn to its gleaming star clusters, because objects that sparkle typically indicate they are extremely clumpy and complicated. Since the galaxy looks like a “sparkle” or swarm of lightning bugs on a warm summer night, they named it the Firefly Sparkle galaxy.
Reconstructing the Galaxy’s Appearance
research team modeled what the galaxy might have looked like
if it weren’t stretched and discovered that it resembled an elongated
raindrop. Suspended within it are two star clusters toward the top and
eight toward the bottom. “Our reconstruction shows that clumps of
actively forming stars are surrounded by diffuse light from other
unresolved stars,” said Iyer. “This galaxy is literally in the process
of assembling.”
Webb’s data show the Firefly Sparkle galaxy is on the smaller side, falling into the category of a low-mass galaxy. Billions of years will pass before it builds its full heft and a distinct shape. “Most of the other galaxies Webb has shown us aren’t magnified or stretched, and we are not able to see their ‘building blocks’ separately. With Firefly Sparkle, we are witnessing a galaxy being assembled brick by brick,” Mowla said.
Webb’s data show the Firefly Sparkle galaxy is on the smaller side, falling into the category of a low-mass galaxy. Billions of years will pass before it builds its full heft and a distinct shape. “Most of the other galaxies Webb has shown us aren’t magnified or stretched, and we are not able to see their ‘building blocks’ separately. With Firefly Sparkle, we are witnessing a galaxy being assembled brick by brick,” Mowla said.
Stretched Out and Shining, Ready for Close Analysis
Since the galaxy is warped into a long arc, the researchers easily
picked out 10 distinct star clusters, which are emitting the bulk of the
galaxy’s light. They are represented here in shades of pink, purple,
and blue. Those colors in Webb’s images and its supporting spectra confirmed that star formation didn’t happen all at once in this galaxy, but was staggered in time.
“This galaxy has a diverse population of star clusters, and it is remarkable that we can see them separately at such an early age of the universe,” said Chris Willott from the National Research Council of Canada’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, a co-author and the observation program’s principal investigator. “Each clump of stars is undergoing a different phase of formation or evolution.”
The galaxy’s projected shape shows that its stars haven’t settled into a central bulge or a thin, flattened disk, another piece of evidence that the galaxy is still forming.
“This galaxy has a diverse population of star clusters, and it is remarkable that we can see them separately at such an early age of the universe,” said Chris Willott from the National Research Council of Canada’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, a co-author and the observation program’s principal investigator. “Each clump of stars is undergoing a different phase of formation or evolution.”
The galaxy’s projected shape shows that its stars haven’t settled into a central bulge or a thin, flattened disk, another piece of evidence that the galaxy is still forming.
‘Glowing’ Companions
Researchers can’t predict how this disorganized galaxy will build up
and take shape over billions of years, but there are two galaxies that
the team confirmed are “hanging out” within a tight perimeter and may
influence how it builds mass over billions of years.
Firefly Sparkle is only 6,500 light-years away from its first companion, and its second companion is separated by 42,000 light-years. For context, the fully formed Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across — all three would fit inside it. Not only are its companions very close, the researchers also think that they are orbiting one another.
Each time one galaxy passes another, gas condenses and cools, allowing new stars to form in clumps, adding to the galaxies’ masses. “It has long been predicted that galaxies in the early universe form through successive interactions and mergers with other tinier galaxies,” said Yoshihisa Asada, a co-author and doctoral student at Kyoto University in Japan. “We might be witnessing this process in action.”
The team’s research relied on data from Webb’s CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), which includes near-infrared images from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and spectra from the microshutter array aboard NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph). The CANUCS data intentionally covered a field that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope imaged as part of its Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) program.
Firefly Sparkle is only 6,500 light-years away from its first companion, and its second companion is separated by 42,000 light-years. For context, the fully formed Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across — all three would fit inside it. Not only are its companions very close, the researchers also think that they are orbiting one another.
Each time one galaxy passes another, gas condenses and cools, allowing new stars to form in clumps, adding to the galaxies’ masses. “It has long been predicted that galaxies in the early universe form through successive interactions and mergers with other tinier galaxies,” said Yoshihisa Asada, a co-author and doctoral student at Kyoto University in Japan. “We might be witnessing this process in action.”
The team’s research relied on data from Webb’s CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), which includes near-infrared images from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and spectra from the microshutter array aboard NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph). The CANUCS data intentionally covered a field that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope imaged as part of its Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) program.
This work has been published on December 11, 2024 in the journal Nature.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science
observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking
beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious
structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an
international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space
Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
About This Release
Credits:
Media Contact:
Claire Blome
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Permissions: Content Use Policy
Contact Us: Direct inquiries to the News Team .
Related Links and Documents
- The science paper by L. Mowla et al.
- How Webb Can Study the Early Universe
- Infrared Astronomy
- Spectroscopy 101 – Types of Spectra and Spectroscopy
