Webb’s 3D animation guides you to an ancient galaxy

In August 2022, scientists released a Webb Space Telescope deep field image, which included some incredibly old galaxies, which formed about 390 million years after the Big Bang.

Now, the Space Telescope Science Institute has produced a dossier visualization Part of the survey that discovered those ancient galaxies, giving viewers an amazing journey through deep space to see light from about 13.4 billion years before now.

The data used to produce the visualization is from the Cosmic Evolution Early Science Survey, or CEERS, which uses the Webb Space Telescope to see light from the early universe. Just last week, CEERS announced Discovery of the most active and most distant supermassive black hole, dating back to about 570 million years after the Big Bang. (The universe is now about 13.77 billion years old.)

The triple visualization focuses on a region of space called the Extended Groth Strip, a faint stretch near the Big Dipper. The video flies through space at 200 million light-years per second, going back in time and approaching increasingly ancient galaxies. The video ends at Macy’s GalaxyIts prick of pink light is named for the daughter of Steve Finkelstein, an astronomer at UT Austin and CEERS Collaboration member.

The Maisie Galaxy formed about 13.4 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest galaxies Webb has seen. last year, Webb spotted two galaxies On the outskirts of the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster, it dates back to 450 million years after the Big Bang and 350 million years after the Big Bang.

Because Webb’s infrared view can peer far into space (which means we’re going back in time), the telescope is a great tool for astronomers seeking to understand how galaxies evolve and how stars are born. The telescope has already shown that even in the ancient universe, The evolution of galaxies was more advanced than previously thought.

While this visualization may be exactly what the doctor ordered, you can also dive deeper into the images formed in the CEERS deep field. here.

More: Zoom in on the Webb Telescope’s biggest image yet