Astronomers Spot Most Distant Galaxy Yet from the Ancient Universe

Astronomers have spotted the most distant galaxy yet. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers have detected a galaxy that was created within 700 million years after the Big Bang, revealing a little bit more about the ancient origins of our universe.

The galaxy is known as z8_GND_5296 and is surprisingly productive. While our own Milky Way galaxy creates just one or two Sun-like stars every year, the newly discovered galaxy births around 300 per year. Not only that, but the scientists have observed the galaxy as it was 13 billion years ago. This could, in turn, explain the productivity.

"Because of its distance we get a glimpse of conditions when the universe was only about 700 million years old-only 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years," said Casey Papovich, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In fact, the researchers believe they may have zeroed in on the era when the universe made its transition from an opaque state in which most of the hydrogen is neutral to a translucent state in which most of the hydrogen is ionized. They came to this conclusion after noting that they saw surprisingly little, despite using the best instrument on the best telescope. It's not that the distant galaxies aren't there; it's that they may be hidden from detection behind a wall of neutral hydrogen fog, which blocks the hydrogen emission signal.

Currently, the researchers are planning to take a closer look at this particular era. Another change that occurred during this time period was a transition from a plasma state to a neutral state.

"Everything seems to have changed since then," said Vithal Tilvi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "If it was neutral everywhere today, the night sky that we see wouldn't be as beautiful. What I'm working on is studying exactly why and exactly where this happened. Was this transition sudden, or was it gradual?"

The findings reveal a little bit more about the ancient universe. More specifically, they show a bit more about universe evolution, which could inform current understanding of our present universe.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.