http://www.inquisitr.com/October 23, 2013
The most distant galaxy from our own was discovered, clocking in at 30 billion light-years away. The galaxy was originally discovered in 2012 by the Hubble telescope, but was only just confirmed by astronomers in Texas.
The universe’s most distant galaxy resides from our perspective just above the handle of the Big Dipper and was given the rather uninspiring name of z8_GND_5296.
This galaxy is a virtual star factory, forming stars at the amazing rate of 330 per year, 100 times faster than our own Milky Way. This resembles the characteristics of the early days of the universe, when the hydrogen gas needed to create stars was much more plentiful. In addition, the system apparently has one billion suns.
Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas describes the journey of discovery for z8_GND_5296:
“We didn’t think you could make galaxies with such intense star formation rates in the early universe. Star formation tends to be proportional to the mass of a galaxy, and the masses of galaxies in the early universe tend to be small. We wanted to figure out how galaxies evolve, one way to do that is to push back deeper and deeper into the history of the universe. We were first excited, then a little disappointed because we only saw one, and then excited again…â€
To explain, astronomers originally thought they would have visual access to a plethora of galaxies. As it turns out, the team initially identified 43 potential galaxies with the Hubble Telescope but were only able to retrieve date about z8_GND_5296, and confirm it with the Keck telescope.
What they are learning about the galaxy is actually quite exciting. Astronomers have been able to literally look back in time at z8_GND_5296, discovering that it is 700 million years old. The universe is thought to be 13 billion years old, dating back to the Big Bang.
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