Story Created:
Oct 20, 2010 at 3:11 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Oct 20, 2010 at 3:11 PM EDT
Astronomers believe they've found the oldest thing they've ever seen in the universe: a galaxy far, far away from a time long, long ago.
Astronomers believe they've found the oldest thing they've ever seen in the universe: a galaxy far, far away from a time long, long ago.
The discovery came from a Hubble Space Telescope photo released earlier this year. Hidden in the picture is a small smudge of light that European astronomers now calculate is a galaxy from 13.1 billion years ago.
At that time, scientists say the universe was relatively young, at a little less than 600 million years old. That would make this galaxy the earliest and most distant one seen so far.
The lead author of the study says by now, the galaxy has probably merged into bigger neighbors and no longer exists in the form seen in the photo.
The study was published online in the journal Nature today.
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