An international team of astronomers led by Fabian Walter of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has managed for the first time to determine the distance of the galaxy HDF850.1, well-known among astronomers as being one of the most productive star-forming galaxies in the observable universe. The galaxy is at a distance of 12.5 billion light years. Hence, we see it as it was 12.5 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 10% of its current age. Even more of a surprise, HDF850.1 turns out to be part of a group of around a dozen protogalaxies that formed within the first billion years of cosmic history – only one of two such primordial clusters known to date. The work is being published in the journal Nature.
 |
| View of the Northern target area for the "Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey" (GOODS-N). The position of the Hubble Deep Field and, within that field, the position of the submillimeter galaxy HDF850.1, are shown separately. HDF850.1 is invisible for observations using ordinary, visible light. Credit: GOODS-N, STScI / NASA, F. Walter (MPIA) |
