Scientists think they've spotted the farthest galaxy in the universe [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

By Chelsea Gohd a day ago

GN-z11 is truly a galaxy far, far away



The galaxy GN-z11, which scientists think could be the farthest and oldest galaxy every observed, superimposed on an image from the COODS-North survey.
(Image: © NASA, ESA, P. Oesch (Yale University), G. Brammer (STScI), P. van Dokkum (Yale University), and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz) )


Astronomers have peered out into the vast expanse and spotted what they think is the farthest (and oldest) galaxy ever observed.

The galaxy GN-z11 might not have a flashy name, but it appears to be the most distant and oldest galaxy ever detected, scientists have found. Astronomers led by Nobunari Kashikawa, a professor in the department of astronomy at the University of Tokyo, embarked on a mission to find the universe's most distant observable galaxy, to learn more about how it formed and when.

"From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light-years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (that's 134 followed by 30 zeros)," Kashikawa said in a statement. "But measuring and verifying such a distance is not an easy task."

To determine how far GN-z11 is from us here on planet Earth, Kashikawa's team studied the galaxy's redshift — how much its light has stretched out, or shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. In general, the farther away a cosmic object is from us on Earth, the more redshifted its light will be.

More:
https://www.space.com/oldest-most-distant-galaxy-discovery?utm_source=notification