"NO DARK AGES" James Webb Telescope Just Spotted 2 of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen

The James Webb Space Telescope, it just did it again. Discovery shatters earlier thinking about the universe's earliest days. The JWST recently spied two of the most distant galaxies ever observed-up to so far back in time that it has challenged scientists to rethink their understanding of the "Dark Ages," the supposed period when galaxies and stars mustn't have formed yet after the Big Bang.

A Glimpse of the Universe in Infancy

These new galaxies, named GLASS-z12 and GLASS-z11, give scientists a view into a universe that, at the time, was only some 300–400 million years old. That would make this era about 13.4 billion years ago, and it's now looking back at scientists with a clarity that has presented structures scientists did not predict at such an early juncture of the history of the universe.

For decades, scientists in the field of cosmology have assumed that when the Big Bang occurred, it was followed by a "Dark Ages" in which no stars or galaxies had yet formed. And all of that has been turned upside down again with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, looking deeper into space than ever before with its unparalleled infrared capabilities—and what it's showing us is galaxies were forming much earlier than we ever thought possible.

What the James Webb Telescope Discovered

The two galaxies that JWST's eyes captured are not just impossibly far away-they are also developed in ways scientists didn't think they could at this point in the history of the universe. GLASS-z12 and GLASS-z11 are each estimated to be 30 times smaller than our Milky Way, but they're building stars at a rate that flouts the existing theories for how the early universe should behave-they're bright, compact, and chocked with newly born stars.

This discovery suggests star formation was already underway just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, thus questioning the very existence of what is known as the "Dark Ages."

End of the "Dark Ages" Theory?

By science, it has long been accepted that the universe spent the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang as an empty, treeless period-no stars, no galaxies, and really nothing very large had formed. Indeed, it was seen as a Dark Age-a hazy period of time in which neutral hydrogen filled the universe and light had not yet been able to roam free.

But with the results coming in from the James Webb Telescope, that story is being rewritten. How big galaxies were some 300-400 million years after the Big Bang suggests starlight may have flashed on a lot sooner than previously thought. Alternatively, rather than the current thought of billions of years, galaxies could form much more quickly, defeating the current understanding of cosmology. Perhaps, this even makes the Dark Ages nonexistent, therefore throwing that wrench into every prediction and approximation.

What does this discovery mean for cosmology?

These findings have tremendous implications on the outlook of how we may interpret the evolution of the universe. If the process of galaxy formation is speeding up much sooner than thought, then models of cosmic evolution will need to be revised and adapted. Being able to observe early, distant galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope offers an entirely new perspective on how galaxies like our own formed.

The discovery of GLASS-z12 and GLASS-z11 could be the solution to one of the greatest cosmological enigmas-reionization. Reionization is the process when the first stars and galaxies had emitted enough radiation to clear the fog of neutral hydrogen, making it transparent to light. Distant galaxies like these could pinpoint to scientists exactly when and how such a process happened.

The Unmatched Capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope

Indeed, it is a first in history because no other instrument has been able to see as deep into space and as far back in time. Where its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope is very good at seeing in the visible spectrum, JWST works in infrared, which will be crucial to detect light that has traveled billions of light-years across the universe; indeed, from distances so vast that this light is both stretched and reddened by the universe's expansion.

These galaxies, found by JWST, will certainly be an asset in unearthing the early stages of this universe and telling it as it is. Its instruments will continue searching for even older and more distant galaxies to challenge what we have so far understood about how the cosmos came to be.

What's Next?

This discovery is just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists think the James Webb Space Telescope will unlock much more distant and much older galaxies, expanding our frontier knowledge about the infancy of the universe. In the coming months, the telescope will zero in on a range of targets-from early galaxies like GLASS-z12 and GLASS-z11 to potentially habitable exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

The more JWST reveals hidden corners of the cosmos, the clearer one thing is: that we are just scratching the surface of something way beyond our understanding. Every new discovery lets us glimpse a universe far more complex, dynamic, and mysterious than ever envisioned.

Such findings may rewrite everything we know from the birth of galaxies to the very fundamental nature of space and time. Let's just say, for one thing-the James Webb Space Telescope is a new chapter in the story of the universe, and the surprises have only just begun.