One of the issues that space scientists have been discussing for years is the question of how the universe was formed. For now, the answer to this question has not been found, but new studies shed light on what the universe looked like billions of years ago. It is worth mentioning that the James Webb Space Telescope, which has made important discoveries since the first day it was sent into space, is behind the work.
According to the Big Bang theory, the universe, which is 13.8 billion years old, underwent a great change in its first billion years. So much so that the universe, which hosts thousands of objects today, was surrounded by hot and ionized gas at that time. This prevented light transmission. It is believed that 300 thousand years after the Big Bang event, protons and electrons, which are the basic building blocks of the atom, and hydrogen atoms began to come together, and after a while, the gaseous environment began to disperse with the help of ultraviolet lights and the universe became transparent in 1 billion years.
Here’s what the first lights looked like at that time!
Continuing his studies at the University of Groningen, serving in the Netherlands, the scientist specially programmed the James Webb Space Telescope and conducted a study on how the universe looked in its first billion years. Here’s the study, which revealed the image you see above. The universe looked like the one above when it first started to shine. After this stage, the settlement of stars and galaxies began.
Diagram showing how the universe changed in its first billion years. While there is a blurry environment in the first stage, the divisions begin in the next stage and eventually take their present form.
The study by the University of Groningen was also supported by several different studies. Work by Nagoya University in Japan revealed the dimensions of the early transparent regions of the universe. According to experts, the circular fields reached up to 4 million light-years in diameter. ETH Zurich, who examined the structure of circular fields, determined that the bubbles that later became galaxies were hot and weak in terms of metal and dust.
In the photo above, there are zoomed images of the galaxies of the 900 million-year-old universe.
Scientists’ work with the James Webb Space Telescope has helped to understand the formation of the universe. However, these are not enough. Experts say they still need a lot of research. Advanced devices such as the James Webb Space Telescope can provide much more detailed information about the formation of the universe.