ESOcast 22: The most distant galaxy ever measured

A European team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far. By carefully analysing the very faint glow of the galaxy they have found that they are seeing it when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6). These are the first confirmed observations of a galaxy whose light is clearing the opaque hydrogen fog that filled the cosmos at this early time.

Credit:

ESO. Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Richard Hook and Douglas Pierce-Price. Narration: Dr. J. Music: movetwo. Footage and photos: ESO, NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team, A. M. Swinbank and S. Zieleniewski, M. Alvarez (http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~malvarez), R. Kaehler and T. Abel and José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org). Directed by: Herbert Zodet. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• astronomy
• space
• exploration
• observation
• redshift z=8.6
• ESO
• VLT
• telescope

[testinc]

@muzammilali007 yeah, I thought so. But 46 billion, isn't that a bit too much? I don't know much about it, but what you say makes perfect sense, though I think 46 billion is a bit overdone;)

[Edsan91]

Amazing! This is incredible stuff! If you ask me I think we have evolved amazingly I wonder if other species out there have telescope technology? And can see as well further away.

[MAStudio64]

I wish we people,have a 100 times bigger telescope,(insted of:.weapon,etc....)

so we can see 100 times more far,or 200!

if i have bigger binoculars i be able to see light from next town,but..

Thanks ESOobservatory!

[YonOtto]

Purely mind boggling stuff!

[korzen321]

@testinc

your last question is interesting, i hope some one can explain it. Its really hard to imagine.

[testinc]

More things I wonder.

- They keep discovering things further and further away from us. This means they keep discovering things older and older. Before, the oldest light was 12.9 billion years old. Now it is 13 billion years old. It they keep improving, might we be able to catch up with the bigbang flash and look at it from the front, like you see a shockwave of a large explosion coming towards you?

- What music is used from 5:10 to 5:42?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

[testinc]

More things I wonder.

- 13 Billion lightyears away from us (Earth) or 13 billion lightyears away from the center of the Universe? I assume Earth isn't the center, so might it be an observation of something further away from us than from the center, or vice versa, further away from the center than from us? Because if B is true, the galaxy might even be older than 13.6 billion years. If A is true, the galaxy might also be even older or bigger than we thought.

to be continued

[testinc]

A few things I wonder.

- The light of that galaxy is 13 bilion years old. That means we see now how that thing looked like 13 billion years ago, right? But if the light is stretched by the expansion of space, how do we know for sure that it really took 13b years for the light to reach us instead of like 14b or 15b years. If I walk a street of 3 miles and I do 3 miles an hour it would take me 1 hour. But if they keep extending that street, it takes me more than 1 hour.

to be continued