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Space & Astronomy

Hubble image smashes cosmic distance record

By T.K. Randall
March 4, 2016 · Comment icon 19 comments

NASA image showing a zoomed in view of galaxy GN-z11. Image Credit: NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope has managed to take a photograph of the most distant object ever observed.
Known as GN-z11, this far off galaxy is situated at a distance of 13.4 billion light years away from us meaning that the light we see from it began its journey through the cosmos a mere 400 million years after the birth of the universe.

Its discovery, which has broken all previous cosmic distance records, has given astronomers a unique glimpse further back in time than was ever thought possible with the Hubble Telescope.
Scientists believe that GN-z11 is around 25 times smaller than the Milky Way but is spinning much faster and is spawning new stars at a much faster rate than our own galaxy.

"We've taken a major step back in time, beyond what we'd ever expected to be able to do with Hubble," said Yale University's Dr Pascal Oesch. "We managed to look back in time to measure the distance to a galaxy when the universe was only 3% of its current age."

Source: Telegraph | Comments (19)




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Comment icon #10 Posted by questionmark 8 years ago
I wonder why anybody is amazed that the light we see is "smaller" than the Milky Way, we are talking about light that took 13.4 billion years to get to us and given that the Big Bang happened 13.7 billion years ago (give or take a few) what we are seeing is a galaxy that has yet to fully expand... which also explains it being so bright.
Comment icon #11 Posted by Gecks 8 years ago
Thats the problem with the big bang theory or even the theory of evolution. They are theorys not fact. Strong theorys perhaps but more works needed which will take longer than our life time... if ever.... to make them more solid. Because people accept the theorys as fact there seems to be a brick wall in place whenever anyone challenges the theorys
Comment icon #12 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 8 years ago
They are theorys not fact. This is a misunderstanding of what "theory" means in science: A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested and confirmed through observation and experimentation.(My emphasis)Source: Wikipedia You are doing what a lot of people that don't fully understand the scientific method do, confuse a theory with a hypothesis: A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon.(My emphasis again)Source: Wikipedia Gravity is "only" a theory ... [More]
Comment icon #13 Posted by BeastieRunner 8 years ago
Go go Hubble Team!
Comment icon #14 Posted by Noteverythingisaconspiracy 8 years ago
Thats the problem with the big bang theory or even the theory of evolution. They are theorys not fact. Strong theorys perhaps but more works needed which will take longer than our life time... if ever.... to make them more solid. Because people accept the theorys as fact there seems to be a brick wall in place whenever anyone challenges the theorys Otherwise what Waspie_Dwarf said.
Comment icon #15 Posted by Sundew 8 years ago
Otherwise what Waspie_Dwarf said. The difference is that gravity can be tested and the test repeated giving the same results time after time. The same cannot be said about evolution. Even if 100% fact, you could not expect the same results with each "run" of the test.
Comment icon #16 Posted by Likely Guy 8 years ago
The difference is that gravity can be tested and the test repeated giving the same results time after time. The same cannot be said about evolution. Even if 100% fact, you could not expect the same results with each "run" of the test. No, of course not as random environmental/genetic variables might change the outcome and it will probably never be "100% fact" because we don't yet understand all of the variables. But evolution is a fact, we've observed the obvious. We just can't explain it in it's entirety yet.
Comment icon #17 Posted by Hugh 8 years ago
Fascinating to think of how many life forms in the universe have viewed the light from our own Milky Way Galaxy in its infancy 13.4 billion light years ago as the furthest distant object seen...
Comment icon #18 Posted by Likely Guy 8 years ago
Fascinating to think of how many life forms in the universe have viewed the light from our own Milky Way Galaxy in its infancy 13.4 billion light years ago as the furthest distant object seen... We looked a lot younger then too. This is so cool because it's like taking a picture of someone on their hundreth birthday and getting back a photo of a baby.
Comment icon #19 Posted by coolguy 8 years ago
Great pic the hubble is awesome


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