Hubble image of the distance-record galaxy UDFy-38135539

This image shows the infrared Hubble Ultra Deep Field taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, in which several robust candidate distance-record-breaking objects were discovered. Confirming the distances to such faint and remote objects is however an enormous challenge and can only reliably be done using spectroscopy from very large ground-based telescopes by measuring the redshift of the galaxy’s light.

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have now measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far, UDFy-38135539 (the faint object shown in the excerpt on the left), which we see as it was when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6). These are the first confirmed observations of a galaxy whose light is clearing the opaque hydrogen fog that filled the cosmos at this early time.

Crédit:

NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso1041b
Type:Collage
Date de publication:20 octobre 2010 19:00
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso1041
Taille:3425 x 2141 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:UDFy-38135539
Type:Early Universe : Galaxy
Distance:z=8.6 (redshift)
Catégorie:Galaxies

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