Astronomers are discovering the oldest and most distant galaxy of the “dark age” of the universe so far! Astronomers are discovering the oldest and most distant galaxy of the “dark age” of the universe so far!

Big Bang research has resulted in the discovery of the oldest and most distant galaxy ever observed, in the mysterious dark age of the universe.

Philosophers and scientists have always been fascinated by the dawn of existence and time, but it is only with the advent of modern technology in the past few decades that the world’s greatest minds have begun to fully understand the meaning of the Big Bang.

Current cosmic models generally assume that the universe began with the Big Bang, around 13.8 billion years ago.

However, astronomers still don’t know what the nascent universe looked like during this early period, which he dubbed the cosmic “dark ages”.

But after pushing advanced tools to their limits, astronomers are now rewarded with discovering the oldest and most distant galaxy ever observed.

It is known that the dark cosmic ages began 370,000 years after the Big Bang and continued for another billion years.

The only sources of light during this period were either photons, which are still detectable today as a cosmic wave background, and emissions from neutral hydrogen atoms.

The expansion of the universe means that the light of these photons has been displaced to such a degree that they are largely invisible to astronomers.

This effect is known as “redshift”, and it is reminiscent of the Doppler effect, in which the wavelength of light is elongated – or “shifted” – towards the extremity. red of the spectrum as it passes through the rapidly expanding universe.

And objects approaching our galaxy, cause the opposite effect. This results in the shortening of the wavelength, and the transition to the blue end of the spectrum, in a phenomenon known as “blue shift”.

Astronomers have long used these effects to accurately calculate the distance of galaxies and the rate of expansion of the universe.

New results from the Keck I telescope in Hawaii confirm that GN-z11 is the most distant – and therefore oldest – galaxy to date.

Professor Nobunari Kashikawa of the University of Tokyo, one of the lead authors of the study, said in a statement: “Based on previous studies, it appears that GN-z11 is the most distant galaxy that can be be discovered, 13.4 billion light years away.

The researchers looked at the carbon emission lines emanating from the GN-z11, located in the ultraviolet range as it left the galaxy, before drastically changing the infrared end of the scale as it reached Earth.

This large redshift indicates that this galaxy was present about 13.4 billion years ago – just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

So GN-z11 is so far away that it actually defines the limits of the observable universe.

Although this galaxy has already been observed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Observatory has only been able to make precise measurements.

Specifically, MOSFIRE allowed researchers to produce distance estimates optimized by a factor of 100 compared to previous measurements.

Professor Kashikawa added, “The Hubble Space Telescope has detected traces several times in the GN-z11 spectrum. However, even Hubble cannot resolve the UV emission lines to the degree we need. So we had use of a more modern ground spectrometer, an instrument for measuring emission lines, called MOSFIRE. ” Mounted on the Keck I telescope in Hawaii. “

However, astronomers will have to wait a little longer before further observations confirm that GN-z11 is indeed the most distant galaxy ever observed.

Astronomers expect this research to accelerate quickly when next-generation telescopes, such as James Webb, start working.

Ultimately, these tools will enable astronomers to study the incomprehensible “Dark Age” period, with unparalleled precision.