Researchers have discovered complex organic molecules in a galaxy 12 billion light-years from Earth, which is now the farthest galaxy these molecules are known to exist in. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analysis by the research team, the new study provides critical insights into the complex chemical interactions that occurred in the first galaxies in the early universe, Phys.org reports.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of astronomy and physics Joaquin Vieira and graduate student Kedar Phadke collaborated with an international team of Texas A&M University researchers and scientists to distinguish infrared signals produced by the galaxy’s larger and larger dust particles and hydrocarbon molecules. recently observed. The results of the research were published in the journal Nature.

“This project started when I was in graduate school, studying hard-to-reach, very distant, dust-covered galaxies,” Vieira said. “Dust particles absorb and re-emit about half of the stellar radiation produced in the universe, making infrared light from distant objects extremely weak or undetectable by ground-based telescopes.”

In the new study, JWST took support from a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, which researchers refer to as “nature’s magnifying glass.” “This magnification occurs when the two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned from Earth’s point of view, and light from the back galaxy is magnified by the front galaxy into a ring-like shape known as the Einstein ring,” Vieira said.

The team focused the JWST on SPT0418-47, an object discovered by the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope and previously identified as a dust-obscured galaxy, magnified about 30 to 35 times by gravitational lensing. According to the researchers, SPT0418-47 is 12 billion light-years from Earth, which corresponds to a time when the universe was less than 1.5 billion years old, or about 10% of its current age.

“Until we got to the combined power of gravitational lensing and JWST, we could neither see nor spatially resolve the actual background galaxy through all the dust,” Vieira said. Said.

Spectroscopic data from JWST shows that the obscured interstellar gas in SPT0418-47 is rich in heavy elements, meaning that generations of stars have already lived and died. The particular compound the researchers discovered is a type of molecule called a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, or PAH. On Earth, these molecules can be found in the exhaust gases of internal combustion engines or in forest fires. Because these organic molecules are made of carbon chains, they are considered fundamental building blocks for the earliest forms of life, the researchers said.

“What this study is telling us right now – and we’re still learning – is that we can see all the regions where these smaller dust particles are found — regions we could never see before the JWST,” Phadke said. “The new spectroscopic data allow us to observe the atomic and molecular composition of the galaxy, providing crucial information about the formation of galaxies, their life cycles and how they evolve.”

“We didn’t expect that,” Vieira said. “Detecting these complex organic molecules from such a great distance fundamentally changes the rules of future observations. This work is just the first step and we are now learning to use it and exploring its possibilities. We are really excited to see it play out.”

“It’s really great that the galaxies I discovered while writing my thesis will one day be observed by JWST,” Vieira said. “I am grateful to US taxpayer NSF and NASA for funding and supporting SPT and JWST. Without these tools, this discovery would never have been made.”