Feb 16 2004
From The Space Library
An international team of astronomers discovered a galaxy cluster that could be the most distant known galaxy in the universe. The team, led by Jean-Paul Kneib of California Institute of Technology, had used the W. M. Keck Telescopes in Hawaii and the HST to observe a galaxy known as Abell 2218. The astronomers believed that the Abell 2218 galaxy, which they estimated at 13 billion light-years from Earth, could be the most distant known galaxy, but precise measurements of its distance were particularly difficult, because the galaxy is so far from Earth that its visible light stretches into infrared wavelengths. Moreover, the scientists suggested that the galaxy might be a young stellar system formed at the initial stages of the universe's inception. Further observation of Abell 2218 and other distant galaxies could yield important clues about the universe's formation. (ESA, “Hubble and Keck Team Up To Find Farthest Known Galaxy in the Universe,” ESA news release SNR 4-2004, 16 February 2004; Jean-Paul Kneib et al., “A Probable z ~ 7 Galaxy Strongly Lensed by the Rich Cluster A221 8: Exploring the Dark Ages,” Astrophysical Journal 607, no. 2 (1 June 2004): 697-703.
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