- NASA's JWST may have detected the universe's oldest Population III stars in galaxy LAP1-B
- These stars are about 13 billion light-years away and emit intense ultraviolet light
- LAP1-B meets three theoretical conditions for Population III star formation
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have spotted the universe's oldest stars born shortly after the Big Bang. The ancient stars, also called Population III or POP III stars, are present in the galaxy called LAP1-B, located 13 billion light-years from Earth, according to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters last month.
A team led by astronomer Eli Visbal reported evidence of POPIII stars, with JWST's infrared spectrum showing that the stars emitted intense ultraviolet light, roughly 100 times the Sun's mass. The study also highlighted that LAP1-B satisfied the three theoretical conditions for POPIII stars to form.
- The stars formed in a low-metallicity (hydrogen and helium) environment with a temperature suitable for hosting star formation.
- They formed in low-mass clusters with only a few very large stars present.
- The cluster meets the mathematical conditions for the initial mass function.
"If indeed Pop III, this is the first detection of these primordial stars. To discover POP III stars, we really needed the sensitivity of JWST, and we also needed the 100 times magnification from gravitational lensing from a galaxy cluster between us and LAP1-B," Visbal was quoted as saying by Space.com.
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Evolution Of the Universe
These stars might be building blocks for larger galaxies as well, making it possible for astronomers to know more about the structure and evolution of the universe's first cosmic systems. As per the prevalent theory, these ancient stars were formed when hydrogen and helium combined with dark matter, creating gargantuan stars a million times the mass of the sun and a billion times as bright as our star.
"Next, we want to perform more detailed hydrodynamical simulations of the transition from Pop III to Pop II stars [the universe's second generation of stars] to see if they are consistent with the spectrum of LAP-1B and similar objects," said Visbal.
The researchers added that "LAP1-B may only represent the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the study of Pop III stars with gravitational lensing from galaxy clusters.
