Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Physics Forum Most Distant Galaxy Yet

Astronomers have just photographed the most distant galaxy ever detected — a lone object 13.2 billion light years from Earth. Since the Galaxy is alone, its discovery implies that the fledgling Universe was emptier than was previously imagined.
The galaxy was spotted in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photograph, an infrared image of the night sky that contains the faintest and farthest objects so far pictured.
The image took an 89 hour exposure time, in the infrared. Since the further away something is, the faster it recedes, and the more the light is stretched, or Red shifted. The primordial galaxy that they found is so remote that its light is detectable only at the longest infrared wavelengths that Hubble can see. We will have to wait until the James Webb telescope is launched 2015, before we can see anything even further away.

***Thoughts
Unless, if at these distances the stretched light has degenerated into pure noise, ......we will see nothing?

http://theweek.com/article/index/211500/a-glimpse-at-the-oldest-galaxy-ever-found

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7331/full/nature09717.html

Thanks for the info re this possible galaxy candidate, Mike, although I didn't find anything in the links to suggest that the Universe was emptier than previously imagined. What's particularly interesting is the evidence that star formation was very rapid between 13.2 and 13 bya.

I doubt that noise would be a problem, as the very long wavelengths would be a distinct signature in the spectrum. The problem is that the photons have been projected onto a sphere of over half a trillion sq lt yrs, so precious few are destined to get into the apertures of our telescopes, and those that do are of very low energy.

Mike, that galaxy isn't necessarily alone. Ethan Siegel who writes the blog Starts With a Bang talks about it. The fact is that the picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. The spectrum that the Hubble can see is pretty wide, from Ultraviolet down to Infrared. This galaxy is bright in the Ultraviolet, but it has been red shifted down to the low Infrared. It is right at the lower limit of the spectrum for the Hubble. So it is a tribute to the Hubble operators that they could detect it at all. The James Webb Space Telescope is designed to see deep into the infrared, far beyond the capability of the Hubble. When it is launched it will probably find plenty of more galaxies at that distance.

Bill Gill

, using analysis and fourier mathematics

[Quote=Mike Kremer]

as you say Bill......from Ultraviolet down to Infrared.
That is one of the reasons that I believe "noise" will eventually overcome the faint visual signal that we can hardly see now ...formed back 13 billion+ Light years ago.
We can only just see a red blob or smear now. Its this smear that allows us to infer that it is really a visually powerful young blue Galaxy, busy creating stars from its surrounding gas cloud.

Scientists can only just make out the smeary shape of this Galaxy, now. They certainly cant see individual stars within the Red blob. Nor will they.... even when the James Webb telescope comes on line. They will be able to see further back into the past.....and prehaps spot smaller less bright Galaxys.
Regarding "noise"
Once you have reached the longest Infrared frequencys, you are (surprisingly) entering the world of Microwaves, which unfortunately are permeating the Universe from all directions, and will become a source of noise as they interfere with the telescopes visual detection system.
It may be possible after hundreds of hours of recieving the tired photons into a mathematical 'sorting bucket'
it might be possible to make out a brighter 'shape' inside the 13 billion distant Galaxy...but would it be worth the effort?
In answer to redewenur (Pete)
By looking back so far into the past, the Universe was very much younger and very much hotter then.
So the fast moving hot gas clouds were not cool enought to condense en mass yet.
They could'nt really maximise their Galaxy production at this distance so soon after the Big Bang, until later on.

An analogy might be 'As a hot laboratory liquid cools down, the dissolved solids it holds, magically appear out of suspension'.
Well thats my thoughts upon that....but I have found a sentence or two that intimates that there are less Galaxys at this distance than believed. But no explanation.

http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011...s-Siblings.html

Yes, the info is provided in your last link:

"Based on the number of galaxies in the same small field of view that were present 650 million years after the Big Bang and detectable by ordinary light, astronomers had calculated how many of the earlier galaxies should appear that were visible only in infrared. The most startling result of the new study is that the expectations weren't fully realized.

They had expected to discover 10 galaxies in the same area at 480 million years post Big Bang. Instead, they uncovered just one."

As you say, no explanation given - nobody has one.

I suspect that for the UV to be shifted to microwave frequency, it would have to originate at a time prior to galaxy formation. Still, I don't know, and would be interested to find out. Be glad to know if you discover reliable info on that.

[Quote=Mike Kremer]

Here is an interesting Musical/Astronomical Video about the musician William Herschel, before he became a famous astronomer, and discovered Infra Red and MicroWaves
using thermometers, as well as Uranus.

http://vimeo.com/5863917

Enjoy