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Saturday, 2 May, 1998, 02:19 GMT 03:19 UK
Remotest galaxy discovered
![]() The twin Keck telescopes (keck observatory)
Astronomers working with the world's largest optical telescope have discovered the furthest object ever found in space. Our science correspondent David Whitehouse reports.
The object found is a faint dwarf galaxy seen as it was when the universe was about 500 million years old, about five per cent of its current age. Its feeble light was detected by the twin Keck telescopes situated on the top of a 14,000ft extinct volcano in Hawaii.
Orbiting above the Earth's turbulent atmosphere means that Hubble has a clearer view of the cosmos, but the Keck telescopes can see further into space. The new galaxy lies 12.2 billion light years from Earth. The images from the telescope show the light from the first stars that formed in the young galaxy.
This young and faint galaxy, shining by the light of the first stars ever to form in the universe, will help astronomers understand how the cosmos has evolved since its birth in the 'big bang' some 15 billion years ago. |
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