Capotauro sits close to the ending part of the Big Dipper constellation.(Image credit: Image processing: Giuseppe Capriotti & Giovanni Gandolfi. Data: NASA / ESA / CSA / JWST / CEERS collaboration.)
Through the use of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), space experts have detected a remarkably brilliant and enigmatic entity potentially representing a galaxy birthed merely 100 million years following the Big Bang, which would denote it as the cosmos’ earliest recognized galaxy, as per a recent investigation.
Then again, Capotauro might be an extraordinary brown dwarf (a “failed star” surpassing the mass of the largest gaseous planets, yet insufficient for sustaining nuclear fusion within its core) dwelling along the outer perimeters of the Milky Way, radiating at a simple 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).
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“Capotauro, irrespective of its true nature, appears genuinely fascinating and auspicious,” stated co-author Giovanni Gandolfi, an astrophysics expert affiliated with Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics, speaking to Live Science.
Capotauro was first identified by Gandolfi alongside his group throughout a prior study, wherein they endeavored to pinpoint exceptionally ancient galaxies within JWST’s records. Yet, the shortage of precise data rendered it unfeasible to ascertain the object’s identity, which Gandolfi equated to possessing a fragment of DNA at a crime location, yet discovering an excess of corresponding entries within the FBI’s database to render it valuable.
Subsequently, this past March, JWST unveiled added specifics regarding Capotauro, akin to obtaining a fragmentary fingerprint, thereby empowering them to narrow the range of possibilities to merely a handful of potentials, Gandolfi noted.
To ascertain Capotauro’s nature, the team utilized visuals captured via JWST’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) across seven distinct wavelengths as part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey, aiming to gauge Capotauro’s luminosity. The item was exclusively identified at the two highest NIRCam wavelengths.
Thereafter, they utilized constrained, yet more meticulously detailed information from JWST’s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to acquire a more refined depiction of Capotauro’s age alongside its thermal properties.
By amalgamating the NIRCam coupled with NIRSpec insights, the researchers implemented prototypes to assess three plausible galaxy configurations, in conjunction with an eventuality wherein Capotauro could, on the contrary, exist as a brown dwarf situated at the outermost reaches of the Milky Way. They likewise scrutinized an array of alternative prospective scenarios, encompassing the object’s potential identity as a uniquely unconventional young galaxy or an uncommon exoplanet.
The results proved indecisive, signifying that the group couldn’t conclusively verify Capotauro’s identity. However, they succeeded in pinpointing the two most probable options.
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Under the early-galaxy interpretation, Capotauro was routinely discovered to have taken shape nearly 100 million years post the Big Bang — thereby propelling the recognized age of the oldest galaxy backward by roughly 200 million years. Its estimated magnitude was monumental, surpassing a billion solar masses.
Alternatively, Capotauro may manifest as a vastly atypical brown dwarf. Should this hold accurate, Capotauro would stand as the chilliest including remotest documented brown dwarf within our own galaxy, at a distance extending beyond seven light-years and at a mere 300 kelvins (80 F, or 27 C), the researchers stated within the analysis. Should Capotauro exist as an unspoiled brown dwarf, Gandolfi mentioned, researchers presently possess an avenue for scrutinizing the origins of our galaxy.
Both possibilities are “highly stimulating” given their potential to challenge previously accepted understandings regarding our own galaxy alongside the general processes underpinning galaxy formation coupled with their evolution, Gandolfi further added.
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Muhammad Latif, a space scientist based at the United Arab Emirates University yet uninvolved with the exploration, stated that Capotauro constitutes “one of the most complex revelations” originating from JWST to date.
“It presents as a notably captivating object, considering that whichever interpretation is ascribed to it essentially drives the frontiers of our comprehension to the ultimate limits,” he expressed to Live Science.
More exact particulars pertaining to the radiation emitted via Capotauro are warranted to decisively ascertain its precise attributes, Latif noted. The team has lodged a proposal soliciting JWST to accumulate amplified details concerning this puzzling entity, Gandolfi mentioned, and are probing other sectors of the cosmos in quest of entities exhibiting similar characteristics.
TOPICSJames Webb Space TelescopeNASAMilky Way
Sophie BerdugoSocial Links NavigationStaff writer
Sophie serves as a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. Her focus spans an extensive spectrum of subjects, with earlier coverage encompassing investigations ranging from bonobo communication dynamics through to the earliest documented instance of water within the universe. Her body of work has similarly been showcased within outlets for example New Scientist, The Observer including BBC Wildlife, alongside her distinction as a shortlisted candidate intended for the Association of British Science Writers’ 2025 “Newcomer of the Year” honor, acknowledging her freelance contributions to New Scientist. Prior to transitioning into the sphere of science journalism, she culminated a doctorate specializing in evolutionary anthropology courtesy of the University of Oxford, wherein she dedicated four years into dissecting the underlying factors behind certain chimpanzees’ enhanced tool utilization proficiencies compared to their counterparts.
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