Truly Amazing....

[mosaix]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Astronomers claim galaxy record

Astronomers say they may have detected the light from some of the earliest stars to form in the Universe.

They have pictures of what appear to be very faint galaxies that shone more than 13 billion years ago, a mere 500 million years after the Big Bang....

 

[HoopyFrood]

Wooo, 13 billion years! Fantastic!

Ah, redshift! One of the very few things I remember from GCSE physics (but then space was the thing that interested me the most on the course )

 

[Allegra]

Wow...how fascinating!

 

[j d worthington]

Indeed, very fascinating; and, if this claim does hold up to scrutiny, then this is another very important step in our understanding of the development of the universe... Not necessarily new information (though I'm sure there will be plenty of that, too) but confirmation or revision of what we already have....

 

[The Ace]

Yes, expanding the boundaries of our knowledge is one thing, but consolidation of known facts is equally important.

 

[mosaix]

Perhaps I'm wrong in interpreting this, but is 500 millions years enough time for galaxies to form?

 

[j d worthington]

Perhaps I'm wrong in interpreting this, but is 500 millions years enough time for galaxies to form?

I wouldn't have thought so, but this may be one of those things that challenges the accepted model. Here's a (slightly) different story; same essential information, but with some minor differences:

Telescope gives deepest view of space - Yahoo! News

Title: "Telescope gives deepest view of space", from AP, datelined Wed., Jul. 11, 2007.

(I just have to add this bit: Don't you love the fact that this story is so short, when it's an observatory in Hawaii, with Cal-Tech involved... yet the BBC gives the whole thing so much more space and thorough treatment.... Ah, yes, America and science education.....)

 

[mosaix]

By magnifying the telescope's range, the scientists said they were able to see light generated by galaxies 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only 500 million years old. At that time, the universe was still in its "Dark Ages" because hydrogen atoms hadn't broken apart and stars hadn't yet formed.

"We have detected six faint star-forming galaxies," said graduate student Dan Stark. "We estimate the combined radiation output of this population could be sufficient to break apart the hydrogen atoms in space at that time, thereby ending the Dark Ages."


Can you have galaxies without stars?

And if the universe was in the "dark ages" how come we can see light from it?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[Connavar]

Wow 13 billions years ago!

Just to think about it....