Researchers have spotted complex organic molecules in a galaxy 12billion light-years away using Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope.
The discovery of the molecules, which are found on Earth in smoke, soot and smog, demonstrates the power of Webb to help understand the complex chemistry involved in the birth of new stars even in the earliest periods of the universe’s history.
Using the Webb telescope, astronomer Justin Spilker’s team found the organic molecules in the galaxy. Being so far away, the light detected by the astronomers began its journey when the universe was less than 1.5billion years old.
The galaxy was first discovered by the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope in 2013 and has since been studied by many observatories, including the radio telescope ALMA and the Hubble Space Telescope.
The discovery was made possible through the combined powers of Webb and fate, with a little help from a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
Lensing, originally predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, happens when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned from our point of view on Earth. The light from the background galaxy is stretched and magnified by the foreground galaxy into a ring-like shape, known as an Einstein ring.
‘By combining Webb’s amazing capabilities with a natural “cosmic magnifying glass”, we were able to see even more detail than we otherwise could,’ said Spilker.
‘That level of magnification is actually what made us interested in looking at this galaxy with Webb in the first place, because it really lets us see all the rich details of what makes up a galaxy in the early universe that we could never do otherwise.’
The data from Webb found the telltale signature of large organic molecules found in smog and smoke — building blocks of the same cancer-causing hydrocarbon emissions on Earth that are key contributors to atmospheric pollution.
However, Spilker says the implications of galactic smoke signals are much less disastrous for their cosmic ecosystems.
‘These big molecules are actually pretty common in space,’ Spilker explained. ‘Astronomers used to think they were a good sign that new stars were forming. Anywhere you saw these molecules, baby stars were also right there blazing away.’
The new results from Webb show that this idea might not exactly ring true in the early universe, according to Spilker.
‘Thanks to the high-definition images from Webb, we found a lot of regions with smoke but no star formation, and others with new stars forming but no smoke,’ Spilker added.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate student Kedar Phadke, who led the technical development of the team’s Webb observations, noted that astronomers are using Webb to make connections across the vastness of space with unprecedented potential.
‘Discoveries like this are precisely what Webb was built to do: understand the earliest stages of the universe in new and exciting ways,’ said Phadke said.
‘It’s amazing that we can identify molecules billions of light-years away that we’re familiar with here on Earth, even if they show up in ways we don’t like, like smog and smoke. It’s also a powerful statement about the amazing capabilities of Webb that we’ve never had before.’
The team’s leadership also includes Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center astronomer Jane Rigby, University of Illinois professor Joaquin Vieira and dozens of astronomers around the world.
The discovery is Webb’s first detection of complex molecules in the early universe.
‘These are early days for the Webb Telescope, so astronomers are excited to see all the new things it can do for us,’ said Spilker.
‘Maybe we’ll even be able to find galaxies that are so young that complex molecules like these haven’t had time to form in the vacuum of space yet, so galaxies are all fire and no smoke. The only way to know for sure is to look at more galaxies, hopefully even further away than this one.’
The $9billion James Webb telescope was launched into space on Christmas Day in 2021.
It is expected to revolutionize astronomy by allowing scientists to peer farther than before and with greater precision into the cosmos, to the dawn of the known universe.
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