Hubble Breaks Its Previous Record, Sends Images Of Galaxy 13.4 Billion Light Years From Earth
The Hubble Space Telescope team released a report today verifying that the record distance for objects recorded by the interstellar observatory has been exceeded by a bright new galaxy situated 13.4 billion years away.
According to a report filed by Irene Klotz of Discovery, the unusually bright galaxy was discovered by astronomer Pascal Oesch using Hubble’s light-splitting spectrograph technology. Dr. Oesch stated that the galaxy, called GN z-11 was not only the farthest, but possibly the oldest galaxy recorded. Using data gathered by measuring the manner in which the wavelengths of light shift at great distances, they have calculated that GN z-11 dates back to roughly 400 million years after the Big Bang.
This process is known as measuring the “redshift” of the light waves coming from an observed galaxy. As the universe continues to expand, the lightwaves shift and stretch, taking on the appearance of longer and redder waves when observed through a telescope. The redder the image, the older and more distant the galaxy.
Looking at the history of the Universe in one image, along with GN-z11 placed on the timeline. #HubbleHangout pic.twitter.com/c91Vutw5f6
— Hubble Space Telescope (@HubbleTelescope) March 3, 2016
In a statement at the official website for the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Oesch said the characteristics of GN z-11 reflected what they know about the oldest galaxies, the first generation of systems to appear after the formation of the universe. Among the phenomena observed by Team Hubble is the galaxy’s production of stars at a rate close to 20 times that of the present day Milky Way.
“We’ve taken a major step back in time, beyond what we’d ever expected to be able to do with Hubble. We see GN-z11 at a time when the universe was only three percent of its current age.”
How much of a look back is Dr. Oesch talking about? With the tremendous distance and relative antiquity compared to our own galaxy, at 400 million years after the Big Bang, GN z-11 as it is being being viewed by astronomers today is a virtual newborn. The galaxy’s mass is tiny, only one-twenty-fifth the size of the Milky Way and has one percent of the stars of our galactic home. Its brightness and visibility for NASA and Yale Observatory’s current technology can be credited to the speed of GN z-11’s growth.
The #HubbleHangout is live! Join the discussion on the farthest galaxy ever observed! https://t.co/TeQCa1IhKb pic.twitter.com/lWqxCiQLtg
— Hubble Space Telescope (@HubbleTelescope) March 3, 2016
Prior to today’s disclosure of the discovery, the longest distance observed by Hubble was 8.68 or 13.2 billion years into the past, nearly 200 million years newer than GN z-11. The magic number for the latest, oldest baby galaxy on our star map is 11.1 or 13.4 billion years.
Gabriel Branner, one of the authors of the study, which will be published in the March 8 edition of The Astrophysical Journal put the relevance of GN z-11 in context.
“Our spectroscopic observations reveal the galaxy to be even farther away than we had originally thought, right at the distance limit of what Hubble can observe.”
Pieter van Dokkum, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, shares Branner’s enthusiasm for Hubble’s latest discovery.
“This is an extraordinary accomplishment for Hubble. It managed to beat all the previous distance records held for years by much larger ground-based telescopes. This new record will likely stand until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.”
The James Webb Space Telescope is the intended successor to Hubble. The projected launch date for the tennis court-sized observatory craft is October of 2018. Like the Hubble, the James Webb Telescope is designed for a mission of a minimum of five years, to a desired length of 10 years, and will carry the latest imaging and data collection technology. Both projects are a step in NASA’s continuing development of Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescopes (WFIRST), a family of developing technologies that will enable further exploration of dark energy, extra-solar planets, and redshift observation of the expanding universe.
As for Hubble, it has exceeded expectations and may succumb to decay in the near future. In the meantime, it has given terrestrial scientists unprecedented glimpses into our own galaxy’s beginnings.
[photo by NASA /Getty Images]
