'Hidden stars' suggest that distant galaxies are much more massive than they appear

A team of astronomers from Leiden University used the James Webb Space Telescope to discover that the most massive galaxies in the early universe contain far more small stars than expected. The findings suggest these early galaxies were likely much more massive than previously thought. The research involved studying nine mature, massive galaxies that ceased forming stars billions of years ago, using deep JWST spectra and previous ground-based observations. The team found that these galaxies contain a far larger fraction of low-mass stars than expected, which challenges current models of galaxy formation. The study reveals that the most massive galaxies in the early universe contain a much larger proportion of small stars, which were previously thought to be negligible. One of the galaxies in the sample is estimated to have formed less than one and a half billion years after the Big Bang and may be as much as four times more massive than previous estimates indicated. This discovery has crucial implications for understanding the early universe, as it shows that much more mass than previously thought is hidden in low-mass stars. The research highlights the importance of using advanced telescopes and new analysis techniques to detect faint, low-mass stars in distant galaxies. The findings suggest that models of galaxy formation must now account for the presence of these hidden stars. The study is published in Nature Astronomy.

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