Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, one of the most powerful tools that astronomers currently have, has once again achieved a milestone for the scientific community. In this case, what scientists have achieved has been to discover the organic molecules that are furthest away in the universe. The results of their analyzes provide valuable information that, since the study was published, has captivated specialists.
To nothing more and nothing less than 12 billion light years away are these organic molecules that have just been discovered and that once again demonstrate that James Webb is changing everything for the world of science. The capacity that this tool has exceeds anything seen so far and becomes the axis of a series of discoveries that are exciting.
a distant galaxy
The organic molecules in question are in a galaxy known by the name of SPT0418-47, which was previously identified using the South Pole Telescope. Taking into account the distance that separates us from this galaxy, it is calculated that the images being obtained correspond to a moment in which the universe was less than 1.5 billion years old. It is an exciting look back into a galaxy that has already received the title of being the furthest away with organic molecules.
The team that has been in charge of this discovery is made up of Professor Joaquín Vieira and his student Kedar Phadke, who have used the data provided by James Webb to carry out different studies. Your investigation has required international collaboration of different experts with whom they have been able to carry out the differentiation of the organic molecules that they had detected from other possible elements, such as infrared signals.
The investigation of a life
Vieira comments that he has dedicated a large part of his life to this type of project, specifically since the time he was in graduate school. At that time, he became significantly interested in those galaxies that are obscured by cosmic dust, a category into which SPT0418-47 fits. Since then he has studied them in depth and has been enthused by the way in which the dust grains absorb stellar radiation just before ejecting it again.
As time has passed, you have seen that more advanced tools than were previously available, such as the versatile James Webb, allowed him to take his research further. Exactly what they have done is use the gravitational lensing technique to take advantage of the position of galaxies relative to Earth and thus have a better chance of exploring SPT0418-47 than ever before. This type of resource is important because, without today’s technology, it would not have been possible to see through the dust that is usually blocking exploration.
Once the organic molecules in question have been analyzed, curious facts have been discovered, such as that they are mainly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a type of molecule that we are used to on Earth. On our planet it is generated when fires occur in the forests or in combustion engines and it is considered a type of molecule that is fundamental to understanding the creation of the first forms of life. In addition, in the study they have reached the conclusion that the presence of many stars had apparently already been recorded in this galaxy.
The important thing about this advance beyond the curiosity of knowing that this is the most distant galaxy with organic molecules is to take into account that now scientists know they can break limitations they had suffered up to now. They can analyze the molecular composition of galaxies and thus get to study them further to understand them and solve mysteries. It’s a breakthrough!