Astronomers found the most distant galaxy ever seen in the confines of the early universe. Galaxy GN-z11 was observed as it existed 13.4 million years ago, only just 400 million years following the big bang. The galaxy was located at a redshift of z=11.1 (32 billion light years from earth).
Discovery
The galaxy was discovered by a group of scientists using the Wide Field Camera 3 – a technologically advanced instrument capable of imaging objects over the whole visible spectrum and with a broad field of view. The galaxy appears as a faint red spot and it´s thought to be 25 times smaller than the Milky Way and 1percent its mass.
Observation of GNz-11
This galaxy resulted to be farther away than originally thought. Astronomers were only capable of identifying it at the limits of what Hubble telescope can observe -- in the farthest infrared wavelengths. This galaxy is 150 million years older than EGSY8p7 – a previous record holder distant galaxy.
Age of the universe
Based on cosmology, the age of the universe is the span of time that has elapsed since the Big Bang, which corresponds to 13.799 plus or minus 0.021 billion years. 21 million years have been added as an uncertainty of the real possible value and is subjected to the agreement of varied scientific research projects.
Conclusions
Scientists believe that this discovery will extend their understanding of the universe.Every look back in time into the universe takes scientists back to the very instant of formation of the early cosmos.
It requires only more high technology instrument to reach the first luminous objects after the Big Bang. This endeavor will be accomplish with James Webb Space Telescope.
The believe development of galaxies -- from stellar conglomerates to galaxies – only became known after Hubble deep field imaging. The first hundred million years since the Big Bang is a shroud as to the formation of galaxies. It´s believed that at some point during the evolution of the universe, there must have been a phase of radical changes that led to the creation of galaxies as we know today.
