Hubble Telescope Spots A Galaxy Far, Far Away

The Hubble and Spitzer have done a tremendous job so far of spotting distant objects in space that have captured our imagination for years, this time around the Hubble has outdone itself. Aided by gravitational lensing the telescope has spotted a galaxy far, far away. It’s the dimmest object spotted so far, a galaxy that’s believed to have existed 13.4 billion years ago, or roughly 400 million years after the big bang.

The galaxy has been named “Tayna,” which means new born, and it belongs to a class of newly formed galaxies that have so far not been picked up by NASA’s telescopes. It’s said to be about the same size as the Magellanic Cloud close to our very own Milky Way galaxy, but produces new stars almost ten times faster.

Astronomers are of the view that Tayna might be more representative of the early universe after the big bang. The Hubble was only able to pick it up because of another cluster of galaxies in front of it. This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing in which the galaxies in front act as a secondary telescope, boosting light from Tayna up to 20 times.

This finding aids NASA’s belief that the very early universe will be rich in galaxy targets that the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to spot much more easily. Astronomers believe that the Webb telescope will be able to pick up on the “embryonic stages” of galaxy birth that commenced shortly after the big bang.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: NASA, Space