Hurtling through the universe at 200 million light years a second, this video takes you on a journey through space and time.
The 3D visualization portrays about 5,000 galaxies within a small portion of a region known as the Extended Groth Strip.
As the camera flies away at the start of the journey each second amounts to traveling 200 million light-years and seeing 200 million years further into the past.
The appearances of the galaxies change, reflecting the fact that more distant objects are seen at earlier times in the universe when galaxies were less developed.
The video ends at Maisie’s Galaxy, which formed only 390 million years after the big bang, or about 13.4 billion years ago.
The data used by scientists to create the video was gathered from the CEERS (Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science) Survey.
It showcases a large undertaking by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with the final galaxy never seen before the Webb telescope started.
The Extended Groth Strip was originally observed by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2005.
The farthest galaxy, known as Maisie’s Galaxy, is a target of great interest to astronomers.
3D visualization portrays about 5,000 galaxies within a small portion of a region known as the Extended Groth Strip. PHOTO BY NASA/SWNS
It’s not only one of the first bright, extremely distant galaxies found by Webb, but it’s also an example of an early galaxy that only Webb could see.
This is because Webb’s instruments can capture the light from these early galaxies, which has been shifted to infrared wavelengths by the expansion of the universe.
“We couldn’t study galaxies like Maisie’s before because we couldn’t see them.
This video not only shows just how far Webb can observe but also how much it builds off the accomplishments of Hubble.
With these observations, the next goal for researchers is to learn about the formation of stars in these early galaxies.
Finkelstein said: “We’re used to thinking of galaxies as smoothly growing.
“But maybe these stars are forming like firecrackers. Are these galaxies forming more stars than expected? Are the stars they’re making more massive than we expect?
“These data have given us the information to ask these questions. Now, we need more data to get those answers.”
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
