A First Glimpse Of Webb's Revolution For Our Understanding Of Galaxy Formation

by Roberto Maiolino (University of Cambridge)

Wednesday 14 Dec 2022, 17:00 → 18:30 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

The successful launch, deployment and commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope has opened a new era in astronomy and astrophysics. Indeed, in some infrared spectral bands, Webb’s sensitivity is up to three orders of magnitude higher than previous facilities. Such a huge leap in sensitivity has happened very rarely in the history of astronomy and, even more broadly, in the history of science. The first observations released by this fantastic observatory have not disappointed, by delivering several unexpected results.

I will give an overview of the early, exciting Webb’s findings by focusing on the new results on distant galaxies. I will show that some of these discoveries are drastically changing our understanding of galaxy formation in the early Universe and of their subsequent evolution across the cosmic epochs.