Astronomers noticed a galaxy that remained unchanged for 7 billion years – rarity in the universe – a gaze to space history and complemented the enigmatic collection of objects called relics or “fossil galaxies”.
These space oddities are galaxies that avoid the expected evolution path after the initial intensive star formation phase. Although other galaxies expand and unite with each other, fossil galaxies remain virtually inactive. Like the celestial capsules, they provide an instant view of an ancient universe and allow astronomers to explore the mechanism of galaxy formation.
A newly discovered fossil galaxy called Kids J0842+0059-is about 3 billion light-years of the Earth, making it both distant and first of its kind, observed outside the local universe-most probably the land area, which is about 1 billion light years. It was found by a team of astronomers led by the Italian National Astrophysical Institute (INAF) using high -resolution images from a highly arizona binocular telescope.
The J0842+0059 of the Fossil Galaxy Kids was observed using the VLT study telescope (left) and with a higher resolution with high binoculars in Arizona (right). – C. Tortora/Inspire/VST/ESO/LBT
“The relics of the galaxy, just by accident, did not connect with any other galaxy, remained more or less intact over time,” said Inaf Researcher Crescenz Tortora and the first investigation of the conclusion published on May 31, published on May 31. In the magazine every month about the Royal Astronomical Society in the magazine. “These objects are very rare because over time, the likelihood of blending with another galaxy naturally increases.”
Very compact, very massive
Astronomers believe that mass galaxies are formed in two stages, according to the research co -author Chiara Spiniello, a researcher at the UK Oxford University.
“First, there is early stars formation, very fast and brutal activities,” she said. “We finally have something very compact and small, the precursor of this relic.”
The second phase, they added, is a prolonged process where the galaxies that are close to, which are close, begin to interact, combine and eat each other, causing very dramatic changes in their shapes, sizes and star populations. “We define the relic as an object that has almost completely missed this second phase, forming at least 75% of its weight in the first phase,” Spiniello explained.
The signaling of fossil galaxies is that they are very old, compact and dense, much more than our own galaxy.
“They have (billions) stars such as the sun, and they do not make any new stars – they do nothing, and they are fossil records of the ancient universe itself,” she said. “They were formed when the universe was truly, really young. And then for some reasons that we have not yet understood, they have not yet been communicated. They have not offered with other systems.
Fossil galaxies are very important because they are a direct relationship with the huge galaxy populations that existed billions of years ago, said Michele Cappellari, a professor of astrophysics at Oxford University, who was not related to research. “As ‘live fossils’, they avoided chaotic merger and growth, which most other mass galaxies experienced. They are allowed to study them to reconstruct the conditions of the universe in infancy and to understand the initial explosions of star formation, ”he said.
He added that these galaxies were so suddenly shaping the stars so suddenly. “Evidence from local and (distant) observations indicates that the feedback of supermassive black holes may be responsible,” said Capellari. “These black holes can cause a powerful wind that pushes or heats gas in a galaxy, preventing further stars formation. But it remains an active field of research.”
The future is unclear
Initially, scientists identified children J0842+0059 2018 using the VLT study telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This observation revealed that the galaxy was accommodated by very old stars, but only provided its mass and size, so to confirm that it was a relic, it took more detailed observation. A large binocular telescope used for this confirmation can make very sharp images because of its ability to compensate for atmospheric turbulence, which may make it difficult for earth telescopes to focus on distant objects.
The adaptive secondary mirrors of the large binocular telescope are correct distortion of vision and allowed the fossil galaxy to be found. – Renato Cerisola
The newly found Fossil Galaxy joins the group only a few others who have been observed at the same level of detail, most undamaged – called NGC 1277 – 2018. Confirmed by Hablo Space Telescope.
NGC 1277 and children J0842+0059 are very similar, but the latter is much further away from the ground. According to Spiniello, it is almost perfect for definition of fossil galaxies.
“We call it an extreme relic,” she said, “because almost everyone, or 99.5% of its stars, was formed incredibly early in space, and the galaxy has done absolutely nothing.”
The fossil galaxy has stars and planets, like our own galaxies, but it is much denser, the Spiniello added. “There will be even more stars in a small, small volume, so it will be very overcrowded,” she said. “And it will be much harder to find solar systems like ours, when many planets are flying around it, simply because it can get into companion stars nearby.”
Children J0842+0059, like 3 billion years ago, seem to be observers because it takes so long before the light from the galaxy reaches the Earth. Spinielle has been hypothesized that the relic will probably remain as it is forever, but scientists cannot be sure because they still do not know what does not interact with other galaxies.
“There must be something that prevents them from blending, but without knowing what we really can’t predict what will happen in the future,” said Spiniello.
“One in the millions”
It is very difficult to recognize fossil galaxies and to confirm their nature in part because they are relatively rare and small compared to conventional galaxies such as the Milky Way, Sébastien Comerón, an extraragalactic astronomer in Spain in Spain, says. He said the approval of a distant relic galaxy is credit for search strategies used to determine these objects and modern instruments.
“The relics are mysterious,” added Comerón, who was not related to the study, In the letter. “The fact that several galaxies are inviolaxies nowadays to the relics of the first large galaxies need to be explained.”
Astronomers cannot say exactly what rare relics are, but Spiniello estimates that all galaxies in the universe may be “one in millions”. The Inspire project aimed at finding and cataloging fossil galaxies and causing the discovery of children J0842+0059, has already identified dozens of other candidates who are in the pipeline for further inspection, Spiniello said.
New instruments can make this search even more effective. Both Spiniello and Tortora are delighted with the Euclid, a European Space Agency telescope, started in 2023, with the aim of exploring dark material and dark energy, which will also be useful in observation of fossil galaxies.
“Euclid will be rebuilt,” said Spiniello, “because instead of watching one object at a time, its wide celestial survey configuration will cover much more. The idea is to find all the galaxies in the sky patch and then separate everyone that is particularly compact.
Approved Relic Galaxy Kids J0842+0059 is a great achievement at this distance, and the future of this area is very promising, according to Capelari email. In the letter. “With powerful new telescopes such as James Webb and Euclid (who created their first images a few months ago), and on the ground using advanced adaptive optics, we can expect more of these relics to find and explore even greater distances.”
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