Scientists from the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Tokyo immediately discovered 39 large ancient galaxies that were formed in the first 2 billion years of the existence of the Universe. It is reported by the journal Nature.

The discovery was made possible through the use of several of the latest telescopes at once - on Earth and in space. So, the researchers made an assumption about the existence and location of ancient galaxies on the basis of data obtained by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. To finally confirm that the observed objects are ancient giant galaxies, additional information was required from two radio telescopes located in Chile: the Atakama Large Millimeter Antenna Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (MBT).

  • Ancient galaxies that ALMA sees (right) and does not see Hubble (left)
  • © 2019 Wang et al

Scientists had to use two types of telescopes, since ancient galaxies can be seen from the Earth only in infrared light, which is difficult to detect with an optical telescope even from space. However, infrared waves can be detected by terrestrial radio telescopes, provided that they are finely tuned.

Space objects discovered by Japanese astronomers appeared at an early stage in the existence of the Universe, shortly after the Big Bang. And as the Universe continues to expand, older objects are located on its periphery and continue to move away from its center and from younger galaxies, including ours. Since the wavelength of the radiation coming to the observer from the moving object increases (the Doppler effect), the light from ancient distant galaxies not only scatters and fades, but also moves to the long-wavelength - infrared part of the spectrum.

In addition, larger galaxies, as a rule, are shrouded in clouds of cosmic dust, and therefore shine fainter than their smaller relatives, and infrared waves penetrate better through dust.

“It was difficult to convince our colleagues that the detected galaxies are indeed as ancient as we expected. For the first time, we thought about their existence when we studied the readings of infrared sensors from the Spitzer space telescope. However, the highly sensitive complex of ALMA radio telescopes was able to distinguish details, working in the submillimeter wavelength range, which is best suited for observations through the dust present in ancient parts of the universe. And even after that, we needed to use a complex equipped in Chile with the very intricate name Very Large Telescope in order to conclusively prove that the objects that we observed were ancient, massive and unseen galaxies before us, ”said one of the authors of the work, astronomer Wang Tao.

Researchers believe that the galaxies discovered by them contain supermassive black holes, the study of which will allow you to learn more about the structure and evolution of the Universe. The fact is that the larger the galaxy, the larger the black hole in its center and the stronger the influence of this black hole on the surrounding space objects. Thus, the discovery of 39 large galaxies containing massive black holes at once will require a revision of the existing model of the Universe.