The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a galaxy that is 13.3 billion light years away.
The discovery ( designated MACSO647-JD ) is believed to be the oldest object ever observed and dates back to within 420 million years of the beginning of the universe. Astronomers were able to use the gravity from a cluster of galaxies situated between MACSO647-JD and the Earth to magnify the image in a way that emulates a giant zoom lens.
"This object may be one of the many building blocks of a galaxy," said Dr Dan Coe. "Over the next 13 billion years, it may have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of merging events with other galaxies and galaxy fragments."
"Light from the tiny embryonic galaxy began its journey to Earth 420 million years after the Big Bang that created the universe."
View: Full article | Source: Sky News
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