Furthest galaxy ever? Researchers discover 13.4B year-old galaxy in deep space
Galaxy GN-z11 is 13.4 billion light-years away from Earth
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Talk about a galaxy far, far away.
Astronomers believe they may have discovered the furthest galaxy from Earth, more than 13 billion light-years away from our planet, according to a newly published study.
The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, discusses the discovery of galaxy GN-z11, which is 13.4 billion light-years away. A light-year, which measures distance in space, is approximately 6 trillion miles.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The arrow points to the most distant galaxy in the universe. (Credit: University of Tokyo, Kashikawa et al.)
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"From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light-years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (that’s 134 followed by 30 zeros)," study co-author and University of Tokyo professor Nobunari Kashikawa said in a statement. "But measuring and verifying such a distance is not an easy task."
Though galaxy GN-z11 is 13.4 billion years old, the researchers noted that the light that emanates from it took 32 billion light-years to reach us, due to the expansion of the universe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For comparison purposes, the universe itself is widely assumed to be 13.8 billion years old.
(Credit: Pixabay CC-0)
The team of astronomers looked at GN-z11's redshift -- the way light stretches, becoming redder the further it travels -- to determine its distance from Earth. They also looked at chemical signatures, known as emission lines and ultraviolet light to give them an estimate of the distance of GN-z11'.
"We looked at ultraviolet light specifically, as that is the area of the electromagnetic spectrum we expected to find the redshifted chemical signatures," Kashikawa continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The Hubble Space Telescope detected the signature multiple times in the spectrum of GN-z11. However, even the Hubble cannot resolve ultraviolet emission lines to the degree we needed. So we turned to a more up-to-date ground-based spectrograph, an instrument to measure emission lines, called MOSFIRE, which is mounted to the Keck I telescope in Hawaii."
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Galaxy GN-z11 is not the only "Star Wars"-linked galaxy to be discovered in recent memory. In August, NASA discovered an active galaxy 500 million light-years from Earth that looks eerily reminiscent of a TIE fighter from the acclimated space franchise.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In June 2016, exoplanet Kepler-1647 b was discovered 3,700 light-years from Earth. It is part of a double-star system, similar to Luke Skywalker's home planet, Tatooine. Three years later, exoplanet LTT 1445 A b and its three stars were discovered.
Researchers discovered what they described as "the first volcanically active exomoon" in August 2019, a celestial body eerily reminiscent of the tiny, fiery "Star Wars" planet Mustafar, where Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader.