| z8_GND_5296 | |
|---|---|
 z8_GND_5296 image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 2013 | |
| Observation data (J2000epoch) | |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Right ascension | 12h 36m 37.892s[1] |
| Declination | +62° 18′ 08.54″[1] |
| Redshift | 7.5078±0.0004 |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 291622±120 km/s |
| Distance | 13.1 billion ly (4.0 billion pc) (light travel distance) ≈30 billion ly (9.2 billion pc) (presentcomoving distance) |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 25.6 (F160W) |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | Dwarf |
| Mass | 1.0+0.2 −0.1×109 M☉ |
| Other designations | |
| FIGS GN1 1292,J123637.89+621808.5,z7 GND 42912[1] | |
z8_GND_5296 is adwarf galaxy[3] discovered in October 2013 which has the highestredshift that has been confirmed through theLyman-alpha emission line ofhydrogen,[2] placing it among the oldest and most distant known galaxies at approximately 13.1 billion light-years (4.0 Gpc) fromEarth.[4][5] It is "seen as it was at a time just 700 million years after the Big Bang [...] when the universe was only about 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years".[6] The galaxy is at aredshift of 7.51, and it is a neighbour to what was announced then as the second-most distant galaxy with a redshift of 7.2. The galaxy in its observable timeframe was producing stars at a phenomenal rate, equivalent in mass to about 330Suns per year.[2]
The light reaching Earth from z8_GND_5296 shows its position over 13 billion years ago, having traveled a distance of more than 13 billion light-years. Due to theexpansion of the universe, this position is now at about 30 billion light-years (9.2 Gpc) (comoving distance) from Earth.[7]
Research published in the 24 October 2013 issue of the journalNature by a team ofastronomers from theUniversity of Texas at Austin led by Steven Finkelstein, in collaboration with astronomers at theTexas A&M University, theNational Optical Astronomy Observatory andUniversity of California, Riverside, describes the discovery of the most distant galaxy known using deepoptical andinfrared images taken by theHubble Space Telescope. Their discovery was confirmed by theW. M. Keck Observatory inHawaii.MOSFIRE, a new instrument at the Keck Observatory that is extremely sensitive to infrared light, proved instrumental to this finding.[8]
To measure galaxies at such large distances with definitive evidence, astronomers usespectroscopy and the phenomenon ofredshift. Redshift occurs whenever a light source moves away from an observer. Astronomical redshift is seen due to theexpansion of the universe, and sufficiently distantlight sources (generally more than a few millionlight-years away) show redshift corresponding to the rate of increase in their distance from Earth. The redshift observed in astronomy can be measured because theemission andabsorption spectra foratoms are distinctive and well known,calibrated fromspectroscopic experiments in laboratories on Earth.[9]
| Records | ||
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| Preceded by | Most distant galaxy 2013–2015 | Succeeded by |
2013 in space | ||||||
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Space probe launches |
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| SelectedNEOs | ||||||
| Exoplanets | ||||||
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| Space exploration |
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