Connect with us

News

This Galaxy Was Lifeless as Early as 700 Million Years After the Universe’s Birth

When a galaxy runs out of gas and dust, the process of star birth stops. That takes billions of years. But, there’s a galaxy out there that was already dead when the Universe was only 700 billion years old. What happened to it?

That’s what an international team of astronomers wants to know. “The first few hundred million years of the Universe was a very active phase, with lots of gas clouds collapsing to form new stars,” said Tobias Looser from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. “Galaxies need a rich supply of gas to form new stars, and the early universe was like an all-you-can-eat buffet.”

So, when the galaxy JADES-GS-z7-01-QU showed up in a JWST observation, it didn’t exhibit much evidence of ongoing star formation. (JADES stands for JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey.) It’s in what astronomers refer to as a “quenched” state and looks like star formation started and quickly stopped. Figuring out why this happened to the young galaxy is an important step in cosmology. Why did it stop creating stars? And, were the factors that affect star formation the same then as they are today?

This composite image of the GOODS-South field — the result of an extremely deep survey using two of the four giant 8.2-metre telescopes composing ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a unique custom-built filter — shows some of the faintest galaxies ever seen.
Composite image of the GOODS-South field where galaxy JADES-GS-z7-01-QU lies. This is part of a deep survey using two 8.2-meter telescopes. JWST later zeroed in on a small portion of this field.
(Credit : ESO/M Hayes)

When a Galaxy Stops Forming Stars

Star-formation quenching is something astronomers don’t expect to happen quickly. “It’s only later in the universe that we start to see galaxies stop forming stars, whether that’s due to a black hole or something else,” said Dr Francesco D’Eugenio, also from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology and a co-author with Looser on a recent paper about JADES-GS-z7-01-QU.

Star birth usually begins as clouds of gas coalesce together. Gas-rich regions, including galaxies, are prime spots for star-birth nurseries. JWST data about JADES-GS-z7-01-QU shows that this baby galaxy experienced a very intense period of star formation shortly after it began forming (after the Epoch of Reionization). For somewhere between 30 to 90 million years, it was ablaze with star formation. Then, suddenly, it stopped.

That’s not surprising—although astronomers aren’t sure why it stopped. Clearly, it ran out of gas. Maybe a supermassive black hole at its heart gobbled up much of the available “star stuff”. The black hole’s rapidly moving winds and jets could also have shoved a great deal of the star-birth material completely out of the galaxy. It’s also possible that the very rapid pace of star formation that JADES-GS-z7-01-QU experienced simply used up the supply. That’s not impossible, according to Looser. “Everything seems to happen faster and more dramatically in the early universe, and that might include galaxies moving from a star-forming phase to dormant or quenched,” he said.

Figuring out the Answer

It’s not clear from the current JWST data what happened to this little galaxy back at the dawn of time. Astronomers are still probing the data. “We’re not sure if any of those scenarios can explain what we’ve now seen with Webb,” said paper co-author Professor Roberto Maiolino. “Until now, to understand the early Universe, we’ve used models based on the modern universe. But now that we can see so much further back in time, and observe that the star formation was quenched so rapidly in this galaxy, models based on the modern universe may need to be revisited.”

The epoch of reionization was when light from the first stars could travel through the early Universe. At this time, galaxies began assembling, as did black holes. The young galaxy JADES-GS-z7-01-QU went through a star burst phase during this time, and then stopped forming stars. Credit: Paul Geil & Simon Mutch/The University of Melbourne
The epoch of reionization was when light from the first stars could travel through the early Universe. At this time, galaxies began assembling, as did black holes. The young galaxy JADES-GS-z7-01-QU went through a star burst phase during this time, and then stopped forming stars. Credit: Paul Geil/Simon Mutch/The University of Melbourne

That means more observations using JWST. “We’re looking for other galaxies like this one in the early universe, which will help us place some constraints on how and why galaxies stop forming new stars,” said D’Eugenio. “It could be the case that galaxies in the early universe ‘die’ and then burst back to life – we’ll need more observations to help us figure that out.”

There’s one other possibility that astronomers will want to probe. JADES-GS-z7-01-QU looked dead at the time of its life when JWST observed it. But, it’s possible that the star-birth quenching was only a temporary thing. Maybe it was caused by periodic outflows of star-stuff material to interstellar space (driven by the black hole in the nucleus). Other galaxies have also been observed to be taking a star-birth break, but they’re much more massive than this one.

Perhaps JADES-GS-z7-01-QU started up the star-forming factory later in its history. In that case, it could well have grown much more massive in later epochs of cosmic history. And, this provides an intriguing idea: perhaps other “quenched” galaxies also took a break, then got a massive infusion of gas—perhaps through collisions with other galaxies—to create later generations of stars. Future JWST observations should uncover more of these galaxies and that should allow astronomers to study their quenched phases in more detail.

For More Information

Astronomers Spot Oldest ‘Dead’ Galaxy Yet Observed
A Recently Quenched Galaxy 700 Million Years After the Big Bang
A Recently Quenched Galaxy 700 Million Years After the Big Bang (arXiv preprint)

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Protesters reach an agreement to dismantle encampment

Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have agreed to end their pro-Palestinian encampment following an agreement reached with the school, university officials announced on Sunday. The encampment, which had been in place for two weeks, will be dismantled by Tuesday, marking the end of what was believed to be the last standing encampment at a Wisconsin college.

University officials had allowed the encampment to remain on a patch of lawn between Mitchell Hall and a busy thoroughfare on the campus’s southern boundary, opting not to involve law enforcement. This approach differed from the response at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where police were called in to remove tents after negotiations fell through. Despite initial efforts to disband the encampment, Wisconsin-Madison eventually reached an agreement with protesters to voluntarily dismantle the camp prior to commencement ceremonies.

Chancellor Mark Mone of Wisconsin-Milwaukee stated last Wednesday that the university had exhibited “the widest possible amount of patience and restraint.” However, he also cautioned that patience was wearing thin and hinted at potential action by the school. Following discussions with the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition, the university agreed to advocate for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, condemn the destruction of schools and universities in Gaza by Israeli forces, and hold meetings with protest leaders regarding university investments.

Additionally, the university pledged to urge the Water Council, a Milwaukee organization of water technology companies, to sever connections with two Israeli government-owned entities, Mekorot and the Israel Innovation Authority. Chancellor Mone serves as the treasurer on the Water Council’s board of directors.

In return for these commitments, the protesters agreed to dismantle the encampment beginning on Sunday and completing the process by Tuesday. They also agreed not to disrupt the university’s commencement ceremonies scheduled for Sunday. In a statement, the protesters expressed their satisfaction with the agreement, stating, “After hard fought edits and careful consideration by the coalition, we determined we had obtained all possible benefits from the encampment.”

The resolution of the encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee represents a successful outcome of negotiations between university officials and protesters. By reaching a compromise that addresses the concerns of both parties, a peaceful resolution has been achieved, allowing for the encampment to be taken down without incident.

Continue Reading

Featured

Entertainment4 days ago

Olivia Munn opens up about her decision to have a full hysterectomy during breast cancer fight: ‘It was the right choice for me’

Olivia Munn, the talented actress and mother, recently shared the news of her decision to undergo a full hysterectomy amidst...

News4 days ago

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Protesters reach an agreement to dismantle encampment

Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have agreed to end their pro-Palestinian encampment following an agreement reached with the school,...

News3 weeks ago

Is now the right time to invest in gold as prices have cooled?

Now may be the time to buy gold following a recent lull in its price. Getty Images/iStockphoto The price of...

News3 weeks ago

Voyager 1 Communications Restored by NASA

NASA has successfully restored communication with the Voyager 1 spacecraft, much to the relief of mission engineers, scientists, and space...

Entertainment3 weeks ago

Kim Kardashian completes strange task before having her coffee

Kim Kardashian, the famous reality TV star and entrepreneur, recently revealed a bizarre quirk that she indulges in before she...

News4 weeks ago

Kevin McCarthy, former House Speaker, seeks revenge

Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is out for vengeance. After being voted out as House speaker, McCarthy left office at...

News4 weeks ago

Possible Future Colleague of Trump: David Lammy, a Close Associate of Obama

David Lammy, a prominent British politician with deep ties to the United States, is poised to become Britain’s foreign secretary...

News4 weeks ago

Juno discovers massive lava lake on Io

NASA’s Juno spacecraft recently made two close flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io, coming within 1,500 km (930 miles) of its...

Entertainment4 weeks ago

Bethenny Frankel reveals that her mother Bernadette Birk passed away from lung cancer

Bethenny Frankel, former star of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” is mourning the loss of her mother, Bernadette...

News1 month ago

Forest Lawn Drive now free of RV encampment and parking

Nancy Sexton was thrilled when city crews cleared out more than 50 RVs in December that had been parked near...

Advertisement

Facebook

Trending