As astronomers look deeply into space, they appear far back in time. Now, astronomers at the University of Tokyo may have seen the oldest, farthest galaxy ever seen. These observations come close to the conditions unfolding in the universe, when the first observation light spread throughout the universe.
The ancient galaxy GN-z11 likely formed 420 million years after the Big Bang, when the Universe was only three percent today. Such an age would place this family of stars near the edge of the observable universe. This galaxy formed at the beginning of the era of rebirth when light first filled Cosmos.
A long time ago, there was a galaxy far, far away …
The galaxy GM-z11 was first spotted in March 2016, and astronomers immediately recognized it as one of the oldest Galaxies ever seen. However, this new study reveals the age of this distant object, revealing its peak age and distance.
“From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detecting galaxy by 13.4 billion light-years or 134 non-billion kilometers (which is after 30 minus 134). But measuring and verifying such distances is an easy task. Is not Nobunari Kashikawa From the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo.
At great distances like those used in studies Galaxies, Astronomers often speak in terms of redistribution of a target, marked with the letter z. This new study suggests that GN-z11 has a redshift value around z = 11, which is the highest shift (and therefore, the largest distance observed so far).
An analysis of this ancient family of stars reveals some of the properties of this nascent galaxy.
“GN-z11 is shiny and young, yet has a moderately large-scale, rapid buildup of stellar mass in the past,” the researchers published in an article detailing their work, Nature astronomy.
It’s not polite to ask a galaxy its age …
Chemical signatures can be seen in the spectra of an object, which reveals the structure of the distant target. These can be seen in one of two ways. The first of these, emission lines, are bright lines caused by the release of photons from atoms. The second type of these features, Absorption lines, Is dark, when photons are absorbed by atoms, when light passes through the gas.
When light from distant bodies breaks down into its constituent colors, these emission lines shift to the red end of the spectrum. This is known as red innings.
The farthest thing is from us, Rapid reduction is seen, Producing a big red shift. Therefore, by measuring the red shift of target galaxies, astronomers are able to calculate its distance from Earth.
“We specifically looked at ultraviolet light, because this is the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that we had expected to find in the redshifted signature. The Hubble Space Telescope detected several signatures in the GN-z11 spectrum. However, even Hubble cannot solve the ultraviolet emission lines to the extent that we needed. So we switched to a more up-to-date ground-based spectrograph, an instrument for measuring emission lines, called MOSFIRE, mounted on the Keek I telescope in Hawaii. “Kashikawa said.
MOSFIRE was able to determine the red shift of emission lines from the GN-z11 to 100 times greater detail than before. If future observations confirm the distance found in this study, GN-Z is the farthest galaxy ever seen compared to 11 Kasmos universe.
“Its remote position places the GN-Z11 at the beginning of the revaluation era. Starlight from the first galaxies in this period began to heat the fog of cold hydrogen gas filling the Universe. The last record-holding galaxy was seen in the middle of this era, some 150 million years later, “ NASA report. In the video above, take a look at the Keek Observatory from 2015 (Video Credit: KK Observatory)
Researchers also found an unexpected sight when studying GN-Z11 – a bright flash of ultraviolet light from a distant galaxy.
“In the optical sky, minute-period transitions from the distance of the universe are rare. Known objects that give rise to such transitions include gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which are the brightest eruptions in the universe … These are the use of high-redshift GRBs and their associated emission in star cosmic age and Re-integration can be done to check history. Dawn, ”researchers have described Nature astronomy.
Although this flash was the result of GRB, astronomers are unable to confirm that analysis Ultraviolet Data alone. However, the team was able to eliminate almost any other possibility for observation.
Future instruments and observations, including the James Webb Space Telescope, may reveal the ancestors of galaxies such as the GN-z11, which emit some of the oldest light in the universe. This would suggest that GRBs were occurring exactly 420 million years after the Big Bang.
Because of that Universe expansion, Light from this body traveled 32 billion light years to reach us, although GN-z11 is still 13.4 billion years old.
Now it is far away!
This article was originally published Cosmic partner by James maynard, Founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion. He is a New England native desert rat in Tucson, where he lives with his loving wife, Nicole, and Max the Cat. You can read this original piece here.
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