|
UDFj-39546284 was a compact galaxy of blue stars that existed 13.2 billion years ago, around 480 million years after the Big Bang. It is the oldest galaxy found as of 26 January 2011 and beats the previous distance record holder by roughly 150 million light years. It could remain so until the anticipated launch of the James Webb Space Telescope sometime this decade. The galaxy has a z (redshift) of ~10. But unlike UDFy-38135539, UDFj-39546284 has not been spectroscopically confirmed.
The galaxy is remarkable mainly because it has significantly expanded knowledge of the early period after the Big Bang. Astronomers were surprised to find evidence that the rate at which the universe was forming stars grew precipitously in about a 200-million-year time span; the rate of star birth increased by about a factor of ten going from 480 million years to 650 million years after the Big Bang.
One day I'd like to be spectroscopically confirmed.
|