Astronomers have discovered what they believe is the most distant and ancient galaxy thought to be more than 13 billion years old.
The ageing Hubble space telescope has detected light from the dim object, which researchers think was formed when the universe was just 480 million years old. This was when galaxy formation in the early universe was going into “overdrive”, said a Nasa team involved in the discovery.
Galaxies are vast archipelagos of stars filling space, such as our own spiral-shaped Milky Way. But the new galaxy, called UDFj-39546284, is the most distant and ancient one yet spotted by astronomers.
Said Prof. Richard Bouwens of Holland’s Leiden Observatory: “We’re seeing these galaxies — “star cities” — that are building themselves up over cosmic time.” The team, comprising US and European astronomers, observed rapid growth over a relatively short period of time. Their data showed there was just one galaxy about 500 million years after the Big Bang. But this rises to 10 galaxies some 150 million years later. The tally doubled after another 100 million years. —PTI