00:04The James Webb Space Telescope first turned its highly attuned telescopic eye into deep
00:08space last year, giving us some incredible images of the early days of the universe.
00:13Now it has looked back even further, and it has identified the earliest galaxies ever
00:17witnessed.
00:18And that light is so old, we might actually be seeing them form in real time.
00:23Researchers in Denmark have been analyzing the data for a while, finding that the proportion
00:27of heavy elements to stars in these fledgling galaxies is off.
00:30They only have a quarter of what would be expected of these crucial chemicals.
00:34Numbers that astronomers have repeatedly found are relatively constant in galaxies throughout
00:38the last 12 billion years, which is why these galaxies are now believed to have not gone
00:42through enough star production and star demise yet, meaning they are likely still forming.
00:47However, while these findings are perhaps a surprise, what astronomers are actually witnessing
00:51occur in real time isn't.
00:53Theoretical models actually predict it happening exactly like this, with the researchers writing,
00:58quote, the result gives us the first insight into the earliest stages of galaxy formation,
01:02which appear to be more intimately connected with the gas in between the galaxies than we thought.
01:07Adding that this is the James Webb Telescope's first observation related to galactic formation,
01:11and more observations will likely reveal even more in the future.
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