Thursday, October 21, 2010

Astronomers find most remote galaxy ever, 13 billion light years away

Hubble image of distant galaxy UDFy-38135539 David Derbyshire - Astronomers have discovered the oldest and most distant object in the universe - a galaxy so far away that its light has taken 13.1 billion years to reach the Earth.

The galaxy, which was spotted by Europe's Very Large Telescope in Chile, is the most remote cluster of stars, gas and dust ever measured.

It is so distant, scientists are observing it when the universe was in its infancy - aged just 600 million years old, or four per cent of its present age.

Dr Nicole Nesvadba of the Institute of Space Astrophysics in Paris said: 'Measuring the most distant galaxy so far is very exciting in itself, but the astrophysical implications of this detection are even more important.

'This is the first time we know for sure that we are looking at one of the galaxies that cleared out the fog which had filled the very early universe.' ...

via UDFy-38135539 galaxy, 13 billion light years away, found by astronomers | Mail Online.

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