HST Finds One of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen
Here’s what a galaxy whose light has been travelling 13 billion years looks like (it’s in the white square, click on the image to see a bigger one):
One of the most distant galaxies ever detected.
Image Credit: ESA
What’s really cool about this image is that the light from this distant galaxy was made over 10 times brighter because it was focused through the gravitational lens of a galaxy cluster (the bright yellowish blobs) located directly between us and the distant galaxy.
This press release is reporting that this galaxy has a redshift of about 7.6, making it one one of the most distant objects ever detected, even more so than the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, whose galaxies had an average redshift between 3-5.
So the light left that galaxy when the universe was only 700,000 years old and has been traversing the universe for over 13 billion years, to reach the detector of the HST.
But if that galaxy cluster hadn’t been in the way and focused the light, we may never have noticed.
Technorati Tags: galaxies, gravitational lensing, hubble deep field, hubble space telescope
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Astronomy Porn, cosmology
2 opinions for HST Finds One of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen
rey
Feb 13, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Tony,
When light gets bent by gravity, like it did in this photo, does it slow down a little?
Thanks,
- rey
Tony
Feb 18, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Hi Rey,
Not really. The thing that slows light down is the medium it travels through. For example, when light goes from space and hits out atmosphere, it slows a little bit. Then when that same light goes from air and into water, it slows even further.
When light is bent, like in gravitational lensing, only the path the light follows is altered. The wavelength may also be lengthened by being in the gravity well of something large, but the speed is still the same.
Hope this helps!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: