NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed a phenomenon that contradicts the long-held theory of gravity and its role in galaxy formation. The telescope, which is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, has detected large and bright galaxies 13 billion years ago, when the universe was less than half a billion years old.
According to astrophysicist Stacy McGaugh, who led the study, the standard model of early galaxy formation predicted that these galaxies should have been small and primitive. However, what astronomers observed is that these galaxies are massive and luminous, indicating that something is amiss in our understanding of the universe’s evolution.
The study’s findings suggest that Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), a theoretical framework proposed more than 25 years ago, could be the correct explanation for this phenomenon. MOND proposes that Newton’s law of gravity breaks down in situations where the pull of gravity is very weak, such as in the outer regions of galaxies.
If MOND is indeed the correct theory, it would imply that our current understanding of gravity and its role in galaxy formation is incomplete. The study’s lead author stated, “The discrepancies we attribute to invisible dark matter are in fact due to a change in the force law. That in turn implies that our theory of gravity is incomplete.”
This finding has significant implications for our understanding of the universe and would require a major shift in thinking, similar to the development of quantum mechanics. The study’s results have been published in The Astrophysical Journal and are available online.
Reference:
McGaugh, S. S., Schombert, J. M., Lelli, F., & Franck, J. (2024). Accelerated Structure Formation: the Early Emergence of Massive Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad834d
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-james-webb-galaxies-gravity-mond-universe-1984318