Farthest known galaxy.Farthest known galaxy An international group of astronomers hasdiscovered a galaxy they believe is the most distant yet seen, located more than 90 percent of the way to the visible limits of the universe. Emissions from the object, designated 4C41.17, traveled farther to reach Earth than those of any other galaxy ever studied, suggesting they may have left their source as little as a billion years after the Big Bang big bang Model of the origin of the universe, which holds that it emerged from a state of extremely high temperature and density in an explosive expansion 10 billion–15 billion years ago. . Discovery of a galaxy apparently formed so early in the universe's evolution raises the question of whether such objects are extremely rare or whether present models of galaxy formation must be revised. Astronomers spotted 4C41.17 in measurements made by the Very Large Array radiotelescope complex in Socorro, N.M. These showed it to be a powerful source and one with a strikingly steep radio spectrum, suggesting it was very distant. They then observed the galaxy optically from Kitt Peak National Observatory Kitt Peak National Observatory, astronomical observatory located southwest of Tucson, Ariz.; it was founded in 1958 under contract with the National Science Foundation and is administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. in Arizona. Those observations indicated a redshift redshift Displacement of the spectrum of an astronomical object toward longer wavelengths (visible light shifts toward the red end of the spectrum). In 1929 Edwin Hubble reported that distant galaxies had redshifts proportionate to their distances (see -- the key to its distance -- of 3.8. Uncertainties preclude setting too exact a distance from a given redshift, but the researchers who reported the finding Aug. 8 at the meeting of the International Astronomical Union “IAU” redirects here. For other uses, see IAU (disambiguation). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. in Baltimore estimate the galaxy could be as much as 15 billion light-years away. The discovery was announced by graduate student Ken Chambers of Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University, mainly at Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins in 1867 had a group of his associates incorporated as the trustees of a university and a hospital, endowing each with $3.5 million. Daniel C. in Baltimore and astronomer George Miley of Leiden University in the Netherlands. They worked with astronomer Wil van Breugel of the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal . |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion