The secret of giant galaxies has been solved – they do not “explode” the universe

The James Webb Telescope provides stunning insights into the young universe. Black holes have an unexpected function.

AUSTIN — The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) aims to peer far into the universe's past for research purposes — and it's doing so with great success. Since its launch in December 2021, the telescope has already provided a wealth of new information about the early universe. These also include discoveries that surprised science – for example, galaxies that were much larger than they should have been shortly after the Big Bang. This discovery in particular has called into question the accuracy of current models: Is the Standard Model of cosmology wrong?

The optical effect makes ancient galaxies appear particularly large

But one A new study in the specialized journal Astrophysical Journal Now it's clearer: galaxies appear twice as large as expected. In fact, they are not as huge as they seem – there is a visual impact behind them. The study, conducted by Katherine Chorowski and Steven Finkelstein (University of Texas at Austin), found that black holes in some of these galaxies are responsible for making them appear brighter and therefore larger than they actually are.

Because when mass falls into a black hole, intense radiation is created, which makes galaxies appear brighter and are judged to be more massive. According to Chorovsky, the remaining galaxies whose apparent size is not distorted by this phenomenon fit well with current research assumptions. The researcher confirms in one of the articles: “We still see more galaxies than expected, but none of them are so massive that they could blow up the universe.” He notices.

“There is no crisis in the Standard Model of cosmology.”

Her colleague Finkelstein adds: “The bottom line is that there is no crisis in the Standard Model of cosmology. When you have a theory that has stood the test of time for a long time, rejecting it requires hard evidence. This is not the case.

The study also looks at the possibility that stars formed more quickly in the early universe than today. “Galaxies in the early universe may have been better at converting gas into stars,” Choworowski speculates. This discovery could explain why the space telescope continues to detect about twice as many large galaxies as predicted by the Standard Model. (unpaid bill)