- Share
-
-
arroba
From the “earlier than thought” files, galaxies
From ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2011):
Using the amplifying power of a cosmic gravitational lens, astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy whose stars were born unexpectedly early in cosmic history. This result sheds new light on the formation of the first galaxies, as well as on the early evolution of the Universe.Johan Richard, the lead author of a new study says: “We have discovered a distant galaxy that began forming stars just 200 million years after the Big Bang. This challenges theories of how soon galaxies formed and evolved in the first years of the Universe. It could even help solve the mystery of how the hydrogen fog that filled the early Universe was cleared.”
[ … ]
“It seems probable that there are in fact far more galaxies out there in the early Universe than we previously estimated — it’s just that many galaxies are older and fainter, like the one we have just discovered,” says co-author Jean-Paul Kneib. “If this unseen army of faint, elderly galaxies is indeed out there, they could provide the missing radiation that made the Universe transparent to ultraviolet light.”
(Note: Journal Reference:
Richard et al. Discovery of a possibly old galaxy at z=6.027, multiply imaged by the massive cluster Abell 383. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011; (forthcoming) )