The world's eight most thrilling scenic spots

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the earliest known galaxy to abruptly stop forming stars.

The galaxy, called GS-9209, quenched its star formation more than 12.5 billion years ago, researchers report January 26 at arXiv.org. That’s only a little more than a billion years after the Big Bang. Its existence reveals new details about how galaxies live and die across cosmic time.

“It’s a remarkable discovery,” says astronomer Mauro Giavalisco of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who was not involved in the new study. “We really want to know when the conditions are ripe to make quenching a widespread phenomenon in the universe.” This study shows that at least some galaxies quenched when the universe was young.
GS-9209 was first noticed in the early 2000s. In the last few years, observations with ground-based telescopes identified it as a possible quenched galaxy, based on the wavelengths of light it emits. But Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the infrared wavelengths that could confirm the galaxy’s distance and that its star-forming days were behind it, so it was impossible to know for sure.

Located in the south of Norway, in the middle of Luser Fjord near Stavanger City, it is a cliff, 604 meters high, standing in the deep mountains of the fjord, with a 25 square meter platform on the top. Here, you can overlook the beautiful fjord winding, and the rolling green mountains in the distance. However, there is no fence around this platform, so if you do not have enough psychological preparation, do not go up!

Norwegian Miracle Stone

Located in Norway's Sherag Mountain, it is a world famous balance stone. The altitude of Norway's Sherag Mountain is 1110 meters. The Miracle Stone is located at a 984 meter high place. It is wedged between two huge rocks, covering an area of about 5 square meters. There is an abyss below. There are no protective measures around the rocks, so it is also called the "Stone of the Brave". If you dare to go up, you will have a panoramic view of the magnificent scenery at the bottom of the valley.

Norse Mountain Demon Tongue

The name of Norway is Trolltunga, which is actually a huge rock protruding in the sky. It is named because its shape resembles the tongue of a mountain demon. Odda Town, located in the middle of Hardanger Fjord in the south central part of Norway, is relatively secluded and has few tourists, so you can sit on the rock with your tongue stretched out to overlook the beauty of the fjord, meditate and enjoy it quietly.

American paper rock

So astrophysicist Adam Carnall and colleagues turned to the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST. The observatory is very sensitive to infrared light, and it’s above the blockade of Earth’s atmosphere (SN: 1/24/22). “This is why JWST exists,” says Carnall, of the University of Edinburgh. JWST also has much greater sensitivity than earlier telescopes, letting it see fainter, more distant galaxies. While the largest telescopes on the ground could maybe see GS-9209 in detail after a month of observing, “JWST can pick this stuff up in a few hours.”

Using JWST observations, Carnall and colleagues found that GS-9209 formed most of its stars during a 200-million-year period, starting about 600 million years after the Big Bang. In that cosmically brief moment, it built about 40 billion solar masses’ worth of stars, about the same as the Milky Way has.

That quick construction suggests that GS-9209 formed from a massive cloud of gas and dust collapsing and igniting stars all at once, Carnall says. “It’s pretty clear that the vast majority of the stars that are currently there formed in this big burst.”

Astronomers used to think this mode of galaxy formation, called monolithic collapse, was the way that most galaxies formed. But the idea has fallen out of favor, replaced by the notion that large galaxies form from the slow merging of many smaller ones (SN: 5/17/21).

“Now it looks like, at least for this object, monolithic collapse is what happened,” Carnall says. “This is probably the clearest proof yet that that kind of galaxy evolution happens.”
As to what caused the galaxy’s star-forming frenzy to suddenly stop, the culprit appears to be an actively feeding black hole. The JWST observations detected extra emission of infrared light associated with a rapidly swirling mass of energized hydrogen, which is a sign of an accreting black hole. The black hole appears to be up to a billion times the mass of the sun.

To reach that mass in less than a billion years after the birth of the universe, the black hole must have been feeding even faster earlier on in its life, Carnall says (SN: 3/16/18). As it gorged, it would have collected a glowing disk of white-hot gas and dust around it.

“If you have all that radiation spewing out of the black hole, any gas that’s nearby is going to be heated up to an incredible extent, which stops it from falling into stars,” Carnall says.

More observations with future telescopes, like the planned Extremely Large Telescope in Chile, could help figure out more details about how the galaxy was snuffed out.

Boys and girls, do you feel a little irritable every holiday? I don't know how to spend it. When I want to go out to play, I lose interest when I think of the crowded scenic spots. However, there are still some places with unique scenery and not so many people. If you are not afraid of heights, brave enough, and want to see different landscapes, take a closer look at the eight breathtaking scenic spots in the world introduced to you today by Zhiding Expression!

Norwegian Evangelical Stone

Located near the coastal city of San Diego in California, the rock gets its name because it is very thin. Many tourists come to this seemingly broken stone to take photos. Although the height is only three meters, if you grasp the angle well, it is like being at the edge of a cliff or in the clouds. Although the distance is not high, it still takes courage to sit on it easily.

American Air Glass Corridor

Located in an Indian tribe reservation on the west side of the Grand Canyon in the United States, it is suspended about 1200 meters above the Colorado River in a horseshoe shape and extends about 21 meters beyond the cliff of the Grand Canyon. The bridge deck is made of reinforced transparent glass, which is about 10 cm thick. Many people like to enjoy the magnificent scenery of the Grand Canyon in the air. Walking on it is like walking in the clouds.

Zhandao, Ghost Valley, Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie, China

This is a glass plank road. On the western line of the mountain top, it is 1600 meters long, suspended above the cliff. The highest point is 1400 meters above sea level, suspended 4-5 meters above sea level. It is located between the cliffs. Standing on the glass platform, people can see the mountains in the distance, which are like a fairyland surrounded by clouds, and the breathtaking abyss below.

China Huashan Changkong Plank Road

It is located at the foot of Xiyan, the south peak of Huashan Mountain. It is built on a smooth cliff. Square wood is used to build blocks and stones to fix it. The plank path is covered with cliffs and cliffs, tens of meters from the top of the cliff, and two or three hundred meters from the bottom of the valley. It is only thirty centimeters wide. There is no fence hanging in the air. Only the cliff iron rope can be used for grasping. Rock climbing enthusiasts at home and abroad like to challenge here.

Sightseeing floor of Sears Tower, Chicago, USA

The Sears Tower in Chicago has 110 floors. Four glass bottomed box structures are set on the 103rd floor, which are built on the west side of the building. For example, the protruding glass balcony of the building extends outward about 1.2 meters. The floor is 12.7 cm thick and can bear about 5 tons. Standing here, you can look at the whole city.