Astronomers have discovered what may be the oldest and most distant galaxy ever observed, which formed approximately shortly following the Big Bang, which dates the beginning of the universe, and may have been teeming with the first generation of stars.
The researchers said on Thursday that the galaxy, dubbed “HD.1”, dates back more than 300 million years following the Big Bang, which occurred 13.8 billion years ago.
Graphic showing the timeline of the oldest known galaxies, including HD1.
Evidence indicates that HD1 formed stars at an astonishing rate, perhaps regarding 100 new stars a year, or alternatively it contained what might be the largest known black hole.
The researchers gathered their information from telescopes in Hawaii and Chile and the Orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope. They hope to obtain more explanations using the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be operational within months following its launch. US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last December.
An image of the James Webb Telescope in space
“Observation information regarding H.M.,” said astronomer Yuichi Harikan, the lead author of the research, which reviews the details of the discovery, which was published in the Astrophysical Journal. de. 1 “It is finite, and other physical properties are still mysterious, including its shape, total mass, and metallicity.”
Metallicity refers to the ratio of substances other than hydrogen and helium that are It was present in the universe in its beginnings.
“The difficulty is that this is almost the limit of the capabilities of current telescopes in terms of sensitivity and wavelength,” Harrikan added.
The researchers said that “HD.1”, which is likely to have a mass 10 billion times greater than our sun, may have had it.A star from the first generation of stars. These so-called “Cluster C” stars are extremely massive, luminous, hot, short-lived and composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium.
