Schrodinger's Galaxy Candidate Revealed Through NASA's JWST Images May Be in Two Different Places

A few days after the James Webb Space Telescope's first images were released, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) discovered a candidate for the most distant galaxy ever seen, as reported by CNET.

The galaxy is called GLASS-Z13, and just recently, another distant galaxy candidate was released on paper based on the early release science programs of the James Webb Space Telescope, known as CEERS-1749.

The CEERS-1749 looks like a very bright galaxy that would have existed over 200 million years after the Big Bang. If confirmed, this could rewrite our understanding of the cosmos.

However, the data indicates two possible places for the CEERS-1749, and no one knows which one is correct yet as it still requires deeper exploration and observation. Therefore, it is now referred to as Schrodinger's galaxy candidate in the paper.

In Two Different Places

The reason that CEERS-1749 could be in two different places is because of redshift. To determine the distance of a galaxy, astronomers study the wavelength of lights, specifically the phenomenon of light, which is called redshift.

The light waves that leave distant galaxies get stretched over time, which shifts the waves down the electromagnetic spectrum and makes them redder. Therefore, UV light that leaves the galaxy like Schrodinger won't reach Earth as UV, but it will be redshifted down into the infrared. This is great because this is the kind of light that the James Webb Space Telescope searches for.

Additionally, the NASA telescope has various filter that looks at distinct wavelengths of infrared. When examining a galaxy like Schrodinger, it is possible to see through the wavelengths as you would through a photo album. The first few pages will have less noticeable red wavelengths, and in some cases, you won't even notice them. However, when you turn through and the wavelengths become redder, the ghost of a galaxy appears.

Redshift is denoted by the parameter z and higher z values, which mean a more distant object. For one, one of the confirmed most distant galaxies is the GN-z11, with a z value of 11.09.

With Schrodinger, the team said it could have a z value of around 17, meaning the light could be from over 13 billion years ago. This may also mean that we need to rethink galaxy models and how they evolved in the earliest days of the universe.

This is why the team suggests that there could be good environmental evidence that its z value might be around 5, meaning that its light is around 12 bill years old. It could also even mean that Schrodinger is a satellite galaxy of one of its bigger neighbors.

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Written by April Fowell