The ghostly dusty galaxy AzTECC71, which was previously seen as a glowing blob by ground-based telescopes, has reappeared in images from the new James Webb Space Telescope but disappeared completely in Hubble Space Telescope images.
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Now the ghostly object has reappeared as a faint but distinct galaxy in a James Webb image, Phys.org reports.
Scientists have now identified AzTECC71 as a dusty star-forming galaxy.
Or, in other words, a galaxy busy producing many new stars, but shrouded in a dusty shroud that is difficult to see through—almost 1 billion years after the Big Bang, the paper notes.
These galaxies were once thought to be extremely rare in the early Universe, but this discovery, along with more than a dozen other candidates identified not yet described in detail in the scientific literature, suggests they may be three to ten times more common than expected.
This thing is a real monster, the researchers note. “Even though it looks like a small droplet, it actually forms hundreds of new stars every year.” And the fact that even something so extreme is barely visible in the most sensitive images from our newest telescope is fascinating. This potentially tells us that there is an entire population of galaxies hiding from us.
Source: Phys.org
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I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.