Astronomers have looked at the vast expanse and they think it is the longest (and oldest) galaxy ever.
Galaxy G.N. – The name Z11 may not be a short name, but it looks like the farthest and oldest galaxy ever, scientists have discovered. Astronomers led by Professor Nobunari Kashikawa of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo embarked on a mission to find out the farthest observable galaxy in the universe, how it formed and when it happened.
“From previous studies, the Galaxy GN-Z11 is 13.4 billion light-years, or 134 billion kilometers (followed by 13 zeros), 134 billion light-years, which seems to be the farthest galaxy we can find.” Said in a statement. “But measuring and testing such a distance is not an easy task.”
Images: Peering on the Big Bang and the early universe
To determine how far the planet GN-Z11 is from us on Earth, Kashikawa’s team studied the galaxy’s redshift – how far its light has extended, or shifted to the red end of the spectrum. In general, the farther away the universe object object is from us on Earth, the more its light will be shifted.
Additionally, the team focused on the emission lines of GN-Z11 – observable, chemical signatures in light coming from cosmic objects.
By studying these signatures closely, the team will be able to understand how far the light from GN-Z11 must have traveled to reach us, giving them the tools to estimate its entire distance from Earth.
“We saw the ultraviolet light in particular, as it is an area of the electromagnetic spectrum that we expect to get re-reddened chemical signatures,” Kashikawa said. “The Hubble Space Telescope often detects signals detected in the spectrum of GN-Z11.”
“Nevertheless,” he added, “even Hubble cannot reconcile ultraviolet emission lines to the required degree. So we moved on to a more advanced ground-based spectrograph, an instrument for measuring emission lines called the mesosphere, in Hawaii.” Mounted on the Cake Eye Telescope. “
Using the mesosphere, the team will be able to observe and study in detail the dissipation lines coming from the galaxy. If other observations confirm the new findings, GN-Z11 will officially rule as the most distant galaxy ever.
New study Published December 14th In the journal Nature Astronomy.
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