Most Distant Galaxy in Universe Detected

Associated Press ^ | Mon Mar 1, 2004 | JOHN LEICESTER

[anymouse]

French and Swiss astronomers say they have detected the farthest galaxy ever observed, a glimmer that dates back to when the universe was still in its infancy.

The galaxy, dubbed Abell 1835 IR1916, is 13.23 billion light-years from Earth — beating by a chunk another galaxy that until now was believed to be the farthest known object, said France's state-funded National Center for Scientific Research, a major European research organizations.

Because light from the new find took 13.23 billion years to reach us across the vastness of space, astronomers are seeing the galaxy as it was back then. The universe, believed to have started with the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago, would still have been in its infancy.

"It is as if we are seeing the childhood of the galaxy," Roser Pello, a member of the team that found it, told The Associated Press on Monday. "It's a galaxy that is starting to form."

The galaxy is in the Virgo constellation and, in space terms, is tiny. It is at least 10 times smaller than our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and has one ten-thousandth of its mass, said Daniel Schaerer of the Geneva Observatory, another member of the team.

He said the find lends weight to theories of how galaxies and stars first formed after the Big Bang, when space is thought to have exploded in a fraction of a second from a speck to an immensity bathed in heat and radiation. It took an estimated 300 million years for the universe to cool and for the stars to form from hydrogen and helium.

Theory holds "that at the start of the universe, galaxies were small, like a kind of basic building block," Schaerer said in a telephone interview.

"Afterward they started to fuse together," he added. "The universe was still quite compact and there were frequent meetings between different galaxies; the biggest swallowed the smaller ones and grew into big galaxies like our own."

Previously, the farthest-known galaxy, whose discovery was announced in mid-February, was roughly 13 billion light-years from Earth. That means light observed from there was emitted about 750 million years after the Big Bang, compared to a mere 470 million years for the new discovery.

To better understand that concept, try imagining the age of the universe in human terms. If the universe is a person aged 75, then the newly found galaxy dates back to when the universe was just "a baby aged two-and-a-half," the French national research center said in a statement.

Richard Ellis, a California Institute of Technology astronomer involved in the previous galaxy discovery, called the new find "potentially very exciting" but said he did not find the European researchers' evidence as convincing as his team's findings, which were made using the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites).

"If they are right, they found the earliest object," Ellis said. But he added that the European research was "not as secure as the measurements made with the Hubble."

"They don't have that clinching image," he said.

The new discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, in Chile, with other images also coming from the Hubble Space Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano, the center said.

Nature also played a magnifying role. The newly found galaxy lies behind a cluster of galaxies, named Abell 1835, whose gravitational forces helped to deflect the distant galaxy's light toward Earth and amplify it by at least 25 times.

The magnification process, first predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, is known as "gravitational lensing."

"There is so much mass, galaxies, gases and dark matter gathered together in this cluster of galaxies that it deflects the light, acting as a lens," said Schaerer.

___

On the Web:

The European Southern Observatory:

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-04-04.html

Schaerer's page: http://obswww.unige.ch/sfr

[anymouse]

But he added that the European research was "not as secure as the measurements made with the Hubble."

Freudian slip, perhaps? ;)

[anymouse]

Space ping.

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[null and void]

The galaxy, dubbed Abell 1835 IR1916,

Awwwww! They named it after Art Bell, how sweet!

[FoxInSocks]

Most Distant Galaxy in Universe Detected

Wow! Really? Now all we have to do is peek to the other side of that galaxy, and we'll get to see what's at the end of the universe. I guess there's nothing left in space to explore, then.

[Spruce]

HST = (gVision) * (Bang_for_Buck) * 100

[Licensed-To-Carry]

OK, somebody help me understand this. If this galaxy is 13.23 billion light-years from Earth and everything started with the big bang, which means everything started in the same place. Then if this galaxy went the opposite direction from the milkyway, why does it only look 2 billion years old and not 26.46 billion years old. How did we get way over here and still see this far galaxy as it was 13.23 billion years ago. Any reasonable explanation will be appreciated.

[Michael Barnes]

it's red shift?

(total shot in the dark)

[FoxInSocks]

Because you're assuming the Milky Way galaxy is at the opposite end of the observed universe?

There's a big IF embedded in your question.

[Physicist]

Because of time dilation. This distant galaxy is travelling at close to the speed of light (in our reference frame). From our point of view, time is moving more slowly there.

[anobjectivist]

The galaxy didn't go the opposite direction from the milky way, I don't recall that being stated in the article.

However, you would be correct as far as a galaxy that expanded in the opposite direction as the milky way, as far as I understand. A galaxy that is today 13.23 billion light years from the center of the universe, if we were also 13.23 billion light years away from center in the opposite direction, would look 26.46 billion years old. That light being emmitted from that galaxy this instant, however, will take an additional 26.46 billion years before we actually observe it.

We cannot see to the origin of the universe, or the big bang, with current astronomy. This galaxy is young, but we are still magnitudes of magnification (boy that sounds funny) away from doing so if it is indeed possible and the big bang exists.

[ASA Vet]

believed to have started with the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago

What if they find a galaxy 13.8 billion light years away?

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - ASTRONOMY

[Michael Barnes]

Because of time dilation. This distant galaxy is travelling at close to the speed of light (in our reference frame). From our point of view, time is moving more slowly there.

Hoping to make sense....

So, assuming it is moving away from us at "close" to the speed of light; what we have seen is purely a "marker" in time of where it "was". Now it is 90%+ further away (image we just saw was speed of light to us; it'speed, close to speed of light away from us;)? Can calculations be made to determine it's "now" distance away from us?

[Licensed-To-Carry]

But I have heard the big bang described as being like a balloon being blown up. There are dots on the deflated balloon which represent galaxies but when the balloon is inflated the dots all rush away from each other at the same speed. So why does the observation of far off galaxies not reflect them as being even more distant. It's like the milky way expanded much faster than these other objects. I don't see how they can still reflect their youthfull appearance. Is it possible to see them in multiple places? Like 2 billion then 4 then 6 then 8 billions years away.

[anobjectivist]

You know what, this is really beyond my realm of understanding. I understand the expansion of the universe (ala big bang theory) and all that jazz, but when time dilation and all of that is thrown in, things just get wishy washy in my mind. (though this won't be true for long as soon as I take my next physics course) Actually, now that I think of it, this is more of a question for www.physicsforums.com. I'm sure that there are plenty of people there capable of providing insight.

[Michael Barnes]

The Elegant Universe

Very well done show that aired and is now online for viewing;;; M Theory, BANG!, etc...

[zencat]

The most important question.

How do we send the liberals there?

[John H K]

Actually it's based on the book "The Elegant Universe."

Which is great. Only didn't understand about 10% of it (The parts about wrapped strings around cylinders and such) While I already basically understood relativity he explained portions of it in a totally new and neat way.

[rightwingcrazy]

"But I have heard the big bang described as being like a balloon being blown up. There are dots on the deflated balloon which represent galaxies but when the balloon is inflated the dots all rush away from each other at the same speed. So why does the observation of far off galaxies not reflect them as being even more distant..."

Light travels at a finite speed. So it takes time for light from that youthful galaxy on another part of the "balloon" to reach our galaxy. And while it's catching up with us, the balloon keeps expanding, and our galaxy is getting older and older. Finally, the light reaches us, and we see a still-young galaxy. If you want to see it when it's "our age", just keep watching and waiting, and be very patient, and live for a very long time.