\u00a9 iStock\/pixelparticle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe results from this analysis allowed radio observations of the averaged 21-centimetre line to reveal for the first time the limits of the first galaxies\u2019 main physical properties.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNon-detection of the signal<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nThe researchers used statistical modelling techniques to look for signals from cosmic dawn, when the first galaxies formed, but could not find one.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n“We were looking for a signal with a certain amplitude,\u201d said Harry Bevins, a PhD student from Cambridge\u2019s Cavendish Laboratory and the paper\u2019s lead author. \u201cBut by not finding that signal, we can put a limit on its depth. That, in turn, begins to inform us about how bright the first galaxies were.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOur analysis showed that the hydrogen signal can inform us about the population of first stars and galaxies,\u201d said co-lead author Dr Anastasia Fialkov from Cambridge\u2019s Institute of Astronomy. \u201cOur analysis places limits on some of the key properties of the first sources of light, including the masses of the earliest galaxies and the efficiency with which these galaxies can form stars. We also address the question of how efficiently these sources emit X-ray, radio, and ultraviolet radiation.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThis is an early step for us in what we hope will be a decade of discoveries about how the Universe transitioned from darkness and emptiness to the complex realm of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects we can see from Earth today,\u201d said Dr Eloy de Lera Acedo from Cambridge\u2019s Cavendish Laboratory, who co-led the research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe first-of-its-kind study excludes scenarios in which the earliest galaxies were both more than a thousand times as bright as present galaxies in their radio-band emission and were poor heaters of hydrogen gas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOur data also reveals something which has been hinted at before, which is that the first stars and galaxies could have had a measurable contribution to the background radiation that appeared as a result of the Big Bang and which has been travelling towards us ever since,\u201d said de Lera Acedo. \u201cWe are also establishing a limit to that contribution.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be able to look so far back in time \u2013 to just 200 million years after the Big Bang- and be able to learn about the early Universe,\u201d said Bevins.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe research was partially supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), and the Royal Society.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have been able to make some observations about the first galaxies to exist by using data from India\u2019s SARAS3 radio telescope.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":27783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[771],"tags":[801,3477],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
First galaxies determined by non-detection of key signal<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n