James Webb has detected more small stars in early galaxies than in modern ones
The James Webb Space Telescope has shown that the proportion of small, faint stars in early galaxies may be significantly higher than in modern galaxies such as the Milky Way. This suggests that the total mass of such galaxies may have been significantly underestimated, according to Space.com.
The research team studied nine early galaxies that had already passed through a period of intense star formation. Data from the James Webb Space Telescope were combined with observations from the ground-based Very Large Telescope. This made it possible to measure the number of small and faint stars in these galaxies for the first time.
Astronomers typically estimate stellar populations based on a galaxy’s total light and its spectrum. However, massive stars are brighter, so they dominate the spectrum, while the faint signals from less massive stars are harder to distinguish. The James Webb’s sensitivity, high-quality spectra, and new analysis methods helped reveal the faint spectral signatures of small stars.
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According to team member Chloe Cheng of Leiden University, this means that galaxies may generally be more massive than previous estimates suggested. In one of the studied galaxies, which formed less than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, the mass could be up to four times greater than previous calculations due to the large number of small stars.
Study lead author Mariska Krik of Leiden University noted that the significant mass hidden in small stars could have implications for various fields of astronomy. Since many planets orbit small stars, this may also mean that more planets formed in the early universe than previously thought. The study’s findings were published in the journal *Nature Astronomy*.
