Hubble Telescope Photographs Oldest Galaxy

The new detail of the Ultra Deep Field

Cosmic Dawn: Hubble Telescope Photographs Oldest Galaxy Ever Found In The Universe

13/12/2012 08:58 GMT

Astronomers have photographed what could be the most ancient galaxy ever spotted in the universe.

The picture is said to capture the “cosmic dawn” when the first true galaxies formed after the initial creation of the universe.

Images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope have captured galaxies which are thought to have existed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

The galaxy – given the catchy moniker UDFj-39546284 – formed within 380 million years of the universe itself, researchers said.

Six other distant galaxies captured by Hubble existed within 600 million years of the universe’s creation, it is thought. Light from the galaxies has taken more than 13 billion years to reach the Earth.

They were photographed using an infrared camera to study the Hubble Ultra Deep Field between August and September 2012. Astronomers judged their age from the redshift – how much their light has been warped by the expansion of space.

“The cosmic dawn was probably not a single, dramatic event,” study lead author Richard Ellis, of Caltech, told Space.com.

They added that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2018, will give an even more detailed look at the universe’s ancient origins.

Mar. 18, 2013 — Galaxies can take many forms — elliptical blobs, swirling spiral arms, bulges, and disks are all known components of the wide range of galaxies we have observed using telescopes like the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. However, some of the more intriguing objects in the sky around us include ring galaxies like the one pictured in a new image — Zw II 28: here.

Hubble eyes a mysterious old spiral: A striking cosmic whirl is the center of galaxy NGC 524: here.

THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE TURNS 25! Looking back at the great scientific discoveries it’s made possible. [HuffPost]

Fossil Galaxy Provides a Window Into the Early Universe. The dwarf galaxy Segue 1 has remained largely unchanged for billions of years: here.

The MUSE 3D view of the Hubble Deep Field South: here.