UDFj-39546284

Galaxy with an extremely high redshift

UDFj-39546284 is a 'stellar structure' (probably a galaxy) reported January 27, 2011 as light from the oldest object. It was detected through infrared observation by the Hubble Space Telescope.[5][6][7][8] It was reported in December 2012 to be at redshift z = 11.9 using Hubble and Spitzer telescope data, including Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF).[9]

Hubble looking into the past.
UDFj-39546284
Hubble Space Telescope image of UDFj-39546284 (seen as a reddish spot in the centre of the image)
Observation data
ConstellationFornax
Right ascension 03h 32m 39.54s[1]
Declination−27° 46′ 28.4″[1]
Redshift11.9[1]
Distance~13.42 billion light-years (light travel distance)[2][3]
~32.7(?) billion light-years
(present comoving distance)[4]
Apparent magnitude (V)V fainter than 30.1[1]
H160 = 28.92 ± 0.18[1]
J125 - H160 > 2[1]
See also: Galaxy, List of galaxies

The actual stellar source of the light detected no longer exists.[10][11] The image is likely to correspond to a compact mini-galaxy[12] of blue stars that existed as we see it 13.42 billion years ago, around "380 million years" after the Big Bang (estimated at 13.8 billion years ago).[13][14]

At the time of the announcement, it was the oldest galaxy found. It beat the previous distance record holder by about 150 million light years.[15] With the revision of the distance, it again became the oldest galaxy found as of December 12, 2012. The next attempt to see further will be the James Webb Space Telescope launched sometime this decade.

Unlike UDFy-38135539, UDFj-39546284 has not been spectroscopically confirmed.[16] A galaxy first formed near to the end of the Dark Ages,[17] it offers information from early after the Big Bang.

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 R.J. Bouwens; et al. (2011). "A candidate redshift z ≈ 10 galaxy and rapid changes in that population at an age of 500 Myr". Nature. 469 (7331): 504–507. arXiv:0912.4263. doi:10.1038/nature09717. PMID 21270889. S2CID 4425674.
  2. Wall, Mike (December 12, 2012). "Ancient Galaxy May Be Most Distant Ever Seen". Space.com. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  3. Rychard Bouwens, Garth Illiingworth & Dan Magee. "Galaxies at redshift 10". University of California Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  4. Edward L. (Ned) Wright. "Cosmology Calculator I". Astronomy @ UCLA. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  5. C Petit writing for Knight Science Journalism at MIT - tracker Archived 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-08-10
  6. Mann A. 2011. Nature (online) article
  7. "Most distant galaxy candidate ever seen in universe". NASA. January 28, 2011. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  8. "Picture album: gray-scale image of object UDFj-39546284 from HUDF WFC3/IR". Space Telescope Science Institute. Retrieved December 13, 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  9. R.J. Bouwens et al - Confirmation of the z~10 Candidate UDFj-39546284 using deeper WFC3/IR+ACS+IRAC Observations over the HUDF09/XDF (2012)
  10. popular article of Wednesday January the 26th 2011 Archived 2013-09-06 at Archive.today written by J Kluger, reporting for Time magazine(online) Retrieved 2012-08-10 (article originally sourced by C Petit)
  11. C Petit - review of - Science News written by Ron Cowen
  12. "mini-galaxy" - J Kluger & NASA
  13. Wall, Mike 2012. Ancient galaxy may be most distant ever seen. Space.com. [1]
  14. Planck collaboration (2013). "Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters". Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics. 571: A16. arXiv:1303.5076. Bibcode:2014A&A...571A..16P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321591. S2CID 118349591.
  15. Dr Emily Baldwin. "Hubble pushes to the limit". www.astronomynow.com.
  16. "Hubble finds a new contender for galaxy distance record". Space Telescope (heic1103 - Science Release). 26 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  17. mit.edu/tracker [2] 2012-08-10