Published: Less than 10 min ago
With the help of the James Webb telescope’s first images of galaxy clusters, a group of researchers from Stockholm University has been able to study the first phase of star formation in distant galaxies.
“The galaxy clusters we examined are so massive that they bend the light passing through their center, just as Einstein predicted in 1917. And this in turn creates a kind of magnifying glass effect: the galaxies in the background are magnified in the image,” says Adélaïde Claeyssens at the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University, in a press release.
Thanks to the magnifying glass effect and the resolution of the super telescope, it has been possible to learn more about the relationship between how compact structures of star clusters (called clumps) form and evolve inside galaxies.
“It changes the entire field of research and helps us understand how galaxies form and evolve,” says Angela Adamo at the same department.
The Stockholm researchers’ findings are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.