Farthest and oldest space objects
This image shows the infrared Hubble Ultra Deep Field taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, in which several robust candidate distance-record-breaking objects were discovered. Confirming the distances to such faint and remote objects is however an enormous challenge and can only reliably be done using spectroscopy from very large ground-based telescopes by measuring the redshift of the galaxy's light. Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far, UDFy-38135539, existing when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6). At this early time, the Universe was not fully transparent and much of it was filled with a hydrogen fog that absorbed the fierce ultraviolet light from young galaxies. Astronomers have spotted the oldest galaxy ever seen, one born just 600 million years after the Big Bang. Their report, published in the journal Nature on October 20, 2010, confirms that the distant smudge first spotted by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is the farthest and thus oldest object ever imaged. Reuters

The first and farthest galaxy on the record has been discovered by a new research, funded in part by NASA, which could provide a deep window into the universe's ancient past. The newfound galaxy called EGSY8p7, researchers said, gives significant insight into how the very first stars developed in the universe within the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

The team, composed of astrophysicists using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, said the galaxy was formed when the universe was less than 600 million years old after the Big Bang. The galaxy EGSY8p7 was detected about 13.2 billion light-years away, which is measured most distant from Earth.

The EGSY8p7 was discovered through the infrared spectrograph at the observatory that detected the galaxy’s "Lyman-alpha emission line," or the hydrogen gas heated up by ultraviolet radiation streaming from the galaxy's newborn stars. The detection of Lyman-alpha line, according to a report from Keck Observatory, was a surprise as it came from a great distance frequently detected in galaxies close to Earth.

"We frequently see the Lyman-alpha emission line of hydrogen in nearby objects, as it is one of the most reliable tracers of star formation," Adi Zitrin, study lead author from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement. The unexpected finding could help bring new information as guide on how the universe evolved in its youth, researchers said.

The result gives new insight to the formation of the first generation of galaxies through understanding the process of “cosmic reionisation.” Researchers stated cosmic reionisation is where radiation from early-formed galaxies split the dark clouds of hydrogen into its constituent protons and electrons, and making the universe transparent to Lyman-alpha light.

"In some respects, the period of cosmic reionisation is the final missing piece in our overall understanding of the evolution of the universe," Zitrin said. The study of sources such as EGSY8p7 will offer new insight into how the universe occurred by pushing back the frontier to a time when it was only 600 million years old.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au