Astronomers have taken a look at the region of space we see as it was during the so-called “Cosmic Noon”. They examined galaxies that emit the so-called Lyman-alpha line, which is believed to be what the Milky Way was like several billion years ago.
“Cosmic Noon”
Scientists at Rutgers University have conducted a study of the part of the Universe we see as it was 2-3 billion years after the Big Bang. This is far from the time of the first galaxies, which physicists argue about so much, but events were quite interesting then.
This time is called “Cosmic Noon”. At that time, the cosmos was already very similar to today’s, but it had many unique events. In particular, there was a special type of galaxy called Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs).
In general, Lyman-alpha is a special line in the radiation spectrum that occurs due to a non-thermal mechanism. It belongs to the ultraviolet line of the spectrum. It is recorded in many rather rare processes.
Past of the Milky Way
To understand the LAE, the scientists collected more data and used a machine learning algorithm to analyze it. It made it possible to understand why this line appears in the spectrum of galaxies. The reason is that they are experiencing a burst of star formation.
What is important in all of this is that over time, LAEs turn into galaxies that look surprisingly ordinary. They appear so because the Milky Way itself belongs to them. So, it is quite possible that it also once experienced a star formation outbreak. Although this theory has yet to be tested.
Provided by: phys.org
