Back in time to discover farthest galaxy

Data collected from several space telescopes has allowed astronomers to locate the most distant galaxy currently measured.

A research team led by Yale University used data from W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and identified a galaxy which has been named EGS-zs8-1. As a result of the properties of light and how it travels through space, the scientists believe that they are observing the galaxy as it looked 13 billion years ago when the universe was only 5% of its present age.

In the study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the team first observed particular colours in images from NASA’s Hubble and Spritzer space telescopes and managed to identify the galaxy. The scientists then used the MOSFIRE instrument attached to a 10 meter telescope to measure its exact distance.

At the time of the observation, the astronomers determined that EGS-zs8-1 forms stars about 80 times faster than our galaxy.

“It has already built more than 15% of the mass of our own Milky Way today. But it had only 670 million years to do so. The universe was still very young then,” said research leader Dr Pascal Oesch.

The scientists believe that future measurement of distant galaxies will become easier with the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that will be launched in 2018.

“The result of JWST’s upcoming measurements will provide a much more complete picture of the formation of galaxies at the cosmic dawn,” said Dr Oesch.