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Astronomers Discover Most Distant Galaxy Yet Recorded

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12 years ago

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This image from the Hubble Space Telescope highlights the galaxy z8_GND_5296, which was recently confirmed as the galaxy most distant from our own that's been discovered. Because of its distance, it shows what things would have been like 700 million years after the Big Bang. Click through to see more images from Hubble:

Astronomers have found a galaxy far, far away—13.1 billion light-years from Earth, to be exact. Photograph by V. Tilvi (Texas A&M), S. Finkelstein (UT Austin), the CANDELS Team, and HST/NASA

Astronomers have found a galaxy far, far away—13.1 billion light-years from Earth, to be exact.
Photograph by V. Tilvi (Texas A&M), S. Finkelstein (UT Austin), the CANDELS Team, and HST/NASA

An almost imperceptible ray of light seen by a telescope located in the Pacific Ocean has led astronomers to the discovery of what is being classified as “the most distant galaxy yet” ever uncovered in the Universe.

The location of this newly discovered galaxy lies far beyond the Big Dipper constellation, about 30bn light years from planet Earth. Scientific researchers were able to verify the existence of the most distant galaxy thanks to new equipment that was added to the Keck Telescope located on a dormant volcano in Hawaii known as Mauna Kea.

When the new instrument using infrared light determined the age of the light hitting its lens from the far away galaxy, it indicated that the light was at least 13.1bn years old, making the source of the light the oldest and most distant galaxy ever discovered from Earth. The most newly discovered galaxy, unlike our own Milky Way system, has not been given a name but is known by the code z8_GND_5296.

Scientists report that this latest discovery is about 40m years older than the galaxy currently considered the oldest, and was one likely more richer in metals due to the color of the light observed.

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope highlights the galaxy z8_GND_5296, which was recently confirmed as the galaxy most distant from our own that's been discovered. Because of its distance, it shows what things would have been like 700 million years after the Big Bang. Click through to see more images from Hubble:

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope highlights the galaxy z8_GND_5296, which was recently confirmed as the galaxy most distant from our own that’s been discovered. Because of its distance, it shows what things would have been like 700 million years after the Big Bang. Click through to see more images from Hubble:

On the Web:
Scientists confirm most distant galaxy ever
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/23/most-distant-galaxy-star-factory

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Tomas Carbry possesses a decade of journalism experience and consistently upholds rigorous standards. His focus areas include technology and global issues.