The James Webb Space Telescope is once again close to turning everything we know about our universe on its head. According to new research, scientists using Webb have discovered carbon dust in early galaxies, which could completely change how we look at galactic evolution and how the early stars of our cosmos evolved and grew.
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The discovery was spotted in ten different galaxies believed to have existed as early as 1 billion years after the Big Bang. This is significant because it shows that theories about the chemical evolution of our universe could be completely wrong, and that heavier elements could have appeared much earlier in our universe than we expected.
The carbon dust is so interesting because these elements take a long time to form in galaxies. This is why scientists have always assumed that the presence of such elements in galaxies would be impossible.
But, if carbon-dust is found in galaxies that are older than the ones Webb observed recently, it raises even more questions. It’s either the universe is much older than previously thought or that these elements aren’t dispersed as slowly as was once believed. The notion that the universe is much older than previously believed has actually become a hot topic as of late, with some scientists believing that it could be twice as old as we currently theorize.
Of course, proving such a thing is not as easy as proving that the sky is blue or that the sun is hot. Instead, it means relying on data gathered from galaxies and cosmic objects millions and even billions of light-years away. Studying space is a bit of an imprecise science in that aspect.
But seeing these properties of early galaxies could help narrow the options a little bit.
The post James Webb spies unexpected carbon dust in early galaxies appeared first on BGR.
