Abell 2744, the galaxy cluster where AMORE6 was spotted. Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, Jennifer Lotz, Matt Mountain, Anton M. Koekemoer, HFF Team (STScI)
Joel Kontinen
Can galaxies form in a beginning?
Stars uncontaminated by heavier elements are thought
to have formed very early in the universe, but a galaxy much later in cosmic
history might let us see them for the first time.
A galaxy marooned in an empty region of the universe appears to be unexpectedly full of primordial stars. This could give
astronomers their first glimpse of a kind of stellar object thought to have
formed shortly after the universe’s first moments and which has never been
directly observed.
Despite being able to peer back to near the beginning
of the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have
struggled to definitively find evidence of the first stars. Known as
population III stars, these are giant balls of mostly hydrogen that would have
formed in the early universe. Being the first stars, they would have almost
none of the heavier elements that are produced when stars die and explode.
By Alex Wilkins 2025
Posts
