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For the first time, astronomers have identified a still-forming galaxy that weighs about the same as our Milky Way if we could wind back the clock to see our galaxy as it developed. The newly identified galaxy, the Firefly Sparkle, is in the process of assembling and forming stars, and existed about 600 million years after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n
The image of the galaxy is stretched and warped by a natural effect known as gravitational lensing, which allowed researchers to glean far more information about its contents. (In some areas of Webb\u2019s image, the galaxy is magnified over 40 times.)<\/p>\n
While it took shape, the galaxy gleamed with star clusters in a range of infrared colours, which are scientifically meaningful. They indicate that the stars formed at different periods, not all at once.<\/p>\n
Since the galaxy image is stretched into a long line in Webb\u2019s observations, researchers were able to identify 10 distinct star clusters and study them individually, along with the cocoon of diffuse light from the additional, unresolved stars surrounding them. That\u2019s not always possible for distant galaxies that aren\u2019t lensed. Instead, in many cases researchers can only draw conclusions that apply to an entire galaxy. \u201cMost of the other galaxies Webb has shown us aren\u2019t magnified or stretched and we are not able to see the \u2018building blocks\u2019 separately. With Firefly Sparkle, we are witnessing a galaxy being assembled brick by brick,\u201d explains astronomer Lamiya Mowla,\u00a0assistant professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
There are two companion galaxies ‘hovering’ close by, which may ultimately affect how this galaxy forms and builds mass over billions of years. Firefly Sparkle is only about 6500 light-years away from its first companion, and 42 000 light-years from its second companion. Let\u2019s compare these figures to objects that are closer to home: the Sun is about 26 000 light-years from the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, and the Milky Way measures about 100 000 light-years across. Not only are Firefly Sparkle\u2019s companions very close, the researchers also suspect that they are orbiting one another.<\/p>\n
[Image description<\/i>: Horizontal split down the middle. At left, thousands of overlapping objects at various distances are spread across this galaxy cluster. A box at bottom right is enlarged on the right half. A central oval identifies the Firefly Sparkle galaxy, a line with 10 dots in various colours.]<\/p>\n
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