Distant star-forming galaxies in the early Universe

The LABOCA camera on the ESO-operated 12-metre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope reveals distant galaxies undergoing the most intense type of star formation activity known, called a starburst. This image shows these distant galaxies, found in a region of sky known as the Extended Chandra Deep Field South, in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace). The galaxies seen by LABOCA are shown in red, overlaid on an infrared view of the region as seen by the IRAC camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope.

By studying how some of these distant starburst galaxies are clustered together, astronomers have found that they eventually become so-called giant elliptical galaxies — the most massive galaxies in today’s Universe.

The galaxies are so distant that their light has taken around ten billion years to reach us, so we see them as they were about ten billion years ago. Because of this extreme distance, the infrared light from dust grains heated by starlight is redshifted into longer wavelengths, and the dusty galaxies are therefore best observed in submillimetre wavelengths of light. The galaxies are thus known as submillimetre galaxies.

Credit:

ESO, APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO), A. Weiss et al., NASA Spitzer Science Center

About the Image

Id:eso1206a
Type:Observation
Release date:25 January 2012, 12:00
Related releases:eso1206
Size:3003 x 2520 px

About the Object

Type:Unspecified : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Constellation:Fornax
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
2.9 MB
Screensize JPEG
444.3 KB

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Coordinates

Position (RA):3 32 30.50
Position (Dec):-27° 48' 40.28"
Field of view:30.01 x 25.19 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 90.0° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Infrared Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC (Spitzer)
Infrared Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC (Spitzer)
Infrared Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC (Spitzer)
Infrared
Z
870 nmAtacama Pathfinder Experiment
LABOCA