"Until we have the new James Webb Space telescope, we cannot observe the first galaxies ever formed, they are just too faint," University Nottingham researcher, Dr. What the team led by Pérez-González did instead, was select nearby galaxies that are similar to these earlier galaxies and study the way in which they formed. The problem of determining how early galaxies grew has continued because current telescopes aren't powerful enough to view the Universe's earliest galaxies. Pérez-González, who led the investigation and is the lead author on a paper detailing the findings published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, added: "Each scenario is linked to different processes, such as galaxy mergers or the influence of supermassive black holes, and they have an effect on when and how the carbon or oxygen, that are essential for our life, formed." "Or the formation could have been jerky, with bursts of star formation producing incredibly large stars that disrupt the galaxy and make it cease its activity for a while or even forever." Mysterious Gamma Rays Traced to Galaxies Powered by Feeding Black Holes.Astronomers Detect Hundreds of Cosmic Explosions in Mysterious Radio Burst.Dead Star Comes Back to Life While Devouring Companion."The first galaxies might have had a 'diesel' star-forming engine, slowly but continuously adding up new stars, without much acceleration and gently turning gas into relatively small stars for long periods of time. Pérez-González, said in a statement from the University of Nottingham. "Galaxy formation can be compared to a car," researcher from Centro de Astrobiología in Spain, Pablo G. Theories suggest that star formation in early galaxies could have either happened smoothly or that it could have taken place in sudden violent bursts of activity.
Until now, astronomers have had difficulty in determining how some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe formed. They focused on those that resemble galaxies that existed in the early universe. Images taken using the Hubble Space Telescope have given astronomers clues about the formation and growth of the first galaxies, suggesting that early star formation happened in violent bursts.Ī team of astronomers used data collected by Hubble and the ground-based Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC), to observe and investigate some of the smallest and faintest nearby galaxies.