New record for oldest observed galaxy

Cú Giobach

Published in "Nature" yesterday.

Link.

Quote:
" Observations of the most distant object yet discovered go a long way in supporting astronomers' models of the early Universe. But the far-flung galaxy, details of which are published in Nature today, also raises questions about the source of the first light in the cosmos.
Light from the galaxy, named UDFy-38135539, left the object just 600 million years after the Big Bang, giving a snapshot of the cosmos in its infancy. This value smashes the previous record held by a galaxy by 150 million years. The image shows the galaxy as it was when it was around 100 million years old and is just 1-10% of the mass of the Milky Way".

The Hill Billy

Image here in the BBC News report.

djhaxman

When JWST gets sent up, hopefully it'll detect even older galaxies.

The Hill Billy

Surely there can't be many galaxies that are older? I'd imagine that it takes 10's to 100's of million of years from original star formation through to original galaxy formation.

whynotdo

Well it has been claimed that Hubble has seen images just 600 million years after the creation of the Universe.

The James Webb Telescope should in theory be able to see even beyond that,all going well there should be an exciting time ahead for enquiring minds..............here's hoping!

fat__tony

It is truely mind-boggling to comprehend such vast distances.

I like the idea that everytime one looks up at the stars of the night sky, you are looking back in time.

Proxima Centauri

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Published in "Nature" yesterday.

Link.

Quote:
" Observations of the most distant object yet discovered go a long way in supporting astronomers' models of the early Universe. But the far-flung galaxy, details of which are published in Nature today, also raises questions about the source of the first light in the cosmos.
Light from the galaxy, named UDFy-38135539, left the object just 600 million years after the Big Bang, giving a snapshot of the cosmos in its infancy. This value smashes the previous record held by a galaxy by 150 million years. The image shows the galaxy as it was when it was around 100 million years old and is just 1-10% of the mass of the Milky Way".

Current thinking is that matter and radiation separated around 400 million years after the bigbang. It is impossible for us to see past this time as all our telescopes from ultra-violet to radio have no means of seeing beyond this time as this is when "light" first began.

Amazing that we can see this galaxy only 200million years after transparency. Interesting times ahead

wylo

fat__tony wrote: »

It is truely mind-boggling to comprehend such vast distances.

True, I often finding myself trying to imagine even distance to our "neighbours",and I dont think a mind can comprehend distances like that. When you think it takes 8 minutes for light to get from the sun to the Earth, which is about 150million Km, then you imagine even 1 light day which is more than 100 times that distance, then you imagine 1 light year. And then that our galaxy is 100,000 times that! Then your talking distances of more than 100,000 times that again away. Enough ranting by me.

Cú Giobach

Proxima Centauri wrote: »

Current thinking is that matter and radiation separated around 400 million years after the bigbang. It is impossible for us to see past this time as all our telescopes from ultra-violet to radio have no means of seeing beyond this time as this is when "light" first began.

Amazing that we can see this galaxy only 200million years after transparency. Interesting times ahead

Transparency...ha ..a mere human construct.

johndaman66

wylo wrote: »

True, I often finding myself trying to imagine even distance to our "neighbours",and I dont think a mind can comprehend distances like that. When you think it takes 8 minutes for light to get from the sun to the Earth, which is about 150million Km, then you imagine even 1 light day which is more than 100 times that distance, then you imagine 1 light year. And then that our galaxy is 100,000 times that! Then your talking distances of more than 100,000 times that again away. Enough ranting by me.

And sure that may only be a tiny part of it I'd imagine. For what we know there may be many galaxies well beyond this point and sure there is too. Even this new galaxy might be quite near in the scheme of things. In terms of what we see with even the best telescopes in the world it might only be a tiny part of the immense universe. Its absolutely fascinating. I don't think we will ever invent the technology that will allow us build up a clear picture of whats at the far throws of the universe. Then again I suupose it was said at the end of the ninteenth century that every thing that could have being invented had being invented...to be fair we have come along way since.

Rubecula

If we accept current ideas that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. (Since the 'Big Bang') and that light is the fastest thing that can exist, then anything that is over 13.7 billion light years away will always be invisible to us as light has not had enough time to reach us.

In a billion years time we will be able to see further if we are still around, but those possible far objects will have moved further away.

So the absolute limit of what we will ever be able to see is at 13.7 billion light years distant at the present day.

Unless we can use something faster than light to see with????:D