Hubble astronomers have observed deeper into space than ever before. In doing so, they have identified six new galaxies of stars that formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang itself, BBC News reported.
The study also updates a distance estimate for a seventh galaxy, placing it further back in time than any object previously identified. Called UDFj-39546284, this is seen when the cosmos was less than 3% of its current age.
The new Hubble telescope investigation was led by Richard Ellis from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and colleagues at Edinburgh University, Jim Dunlop and Ross McLure.
Its significance is that it gives us the clearest insight into how some of the earliest years of cosmic history unfolded. The data supports the notion that the first galaxies assembled their constituent stars in a smooth fashion – not in some sudden burst. The new results stem from a project called UDF12 and centre on a tiny patch of sky in the Constellation Fornax (The Furnace). This is the location where Hubble has repeatedly stared since 2003, trying to build up a picture of objects whose separation from us is so great that their light arrives in dribs and drabs. The light being seen from the remotest objects in the UDF would have started out as short wavelength (ultraviolet) emission that was then subsequently stretched to longer (infrared) wavelengths by the expansion of the Universe. And because it has taken so long for this light to reach us, the observations are effectively looking back in time.
Nonetheless, the team believes the data is robust enough to certify the six new galaxies and the one re-classification.
