Astronomers Discover Farthest Object In the Known Universe
A possible galaxy that exists some 13.5 billion light-years from Earth has broken the record for farthest astronomical object ever seen. Live Science reports: That age places this collection of stars, now dubbed HD1, between a time of total darkness -- about 14 billion years ago the universe was a blank slate devoid of any stars or galaxies -- and one of just-burgeoning lights as clumps of dust and gas were growing into their cosmic destinies. [...] The researchers discovered HD1 in data collected over 1,200 hours of observation time using the Subaru Telescope, the VISTA Telescope, the U.K. Infrared Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. They were particularly looking at redshift, a phenomenon in which light waves stretch out or become redder as an object moves away from the observer. In this case, the redshift suggested HD1 was extremely distant. The researchers found that the red wavelengths were the equivalent to a galaxy located 13.5 billion light-years away. HD1 also seems to be growing at a feverish rate -- about 100 stars each year, or at least 10 times the rate predicted for starburst galaxies that are known to produce stars at an extraordinarily high pace. These stars were also more massive, brighter (in ultraviolet wavelengths) and hotter than younger stars, the researchers found. As such, HD1 could be home to the universe's very first stars, called Population III stars; if that identity is verified, this would be the first observation of this type of star, the researchers said. There's also the possibility that HD1 is a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 100 million times that of the sun. To figure out HD1's true identity, the researchers can look for X-rays, which are emitted as material gets devoured by the gravity of a black hole. "If HD1 is a black hole, we should see X-ray emission from it. If we do not find X-rays, the emission must originate from massive stars," [one of the researchers told Live Science].
Read more of this story at Slashdot.