Once again a JWST result has been misunderstood and twisted into something it's not on social media. In this video we're chatting about what astronomers have found, how they found these galaxies, and what that means for our understanding of the Universe.

#jwst #astrophysics #lymanbreak

** REFERENCES **
Labbé et al. (2023; 6 massive galaxies in JWST data) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.12446.pdf
Rana (1987; the initial mass function of stars) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/p...
Licquia & Newman (2015; stellar mass of the Milky Way) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.1078.pdf

More info on the JWST CEERS survey: https://ceers.github.io/
The JWST proposal information for CEERS: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-pub...

JWST observing schedules: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-ex...
JWST data archive (with public access!): https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/...
Twitter bot for JWST current observations:   / jwstobservation  

My previous video on the history of the Big Bang theory -    • How did the Universe begin? | Great D...  

00:00 - Introduction
00:22 - What have astronomers found in JWST data?
02:04 - Lyman break in a galaxy spectrum: DISTANCE
03:19 - Balmer break in a galaxy spectrum: AGE & MASS
04:59 - How we know heavy these galaxies are
06:18 - How you measure it with just galaxy images (not spectra)
08:02 - How heavy are these galaxies then?
09:11 - Why it's a big deal they're so big
10:28 - Does this mean the Big Bang theory is wrong? No.
11:23 - The caveats: are the measurements accurate or precise?
12:54 - What's next? Getting spectra with JWST
13:26 - Bloopers


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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.


http://drbecky.uk.com
https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk