Behind CL1358+62: A New Farthest Object
Explanation:
What if we could see back to the beginning of the universe? At one tenth the
universe's present age, we might see
galaxies forming.
But what did galaxies look like when they were forming?
These questions took a step toward being answered yesterday
with the release of analysis of a
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
photograph of the most distant object yet discovered.
Pictured
in the box above, this galaxy appears to us - billions of years
later and across the universe - as a faint red smudge. In technical terms,
this galaxy lies at the record
redshift of z=4.92.
Practically all of the yellow-white objects in the photograph are galaxies in a
nearby cluster which together
act as a lens in
amplifying the light from the ancient galaxy.
A follow-up picture by the ground-based
Keck Telescope actually measured the
distant redshift.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
