Surprisingly mature galaxy in the early universe – rmf24.pl

VLT telescope ALMA system and radio telescopes, belonging to the European Southern Observatory allowed astronomers to discover one of the youngest and most distant galaxies. To their surprise, the observed system at a much later stage of evolution, than they expected. The galaxy contains dust, similar to that observed in a very mature systems, such as our own Milky Way. This dust is essential for any life, because he creates complex molecules, planets and the stars themselves.

Radio telescopes ESO system, the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA)

/ ALMA / ESO /

The aim of the observations was the galaxy, designated A1689-ZD1. It can be seen only through the strengthening of its brightness dziewięciokrotnemu, associated with the effect of gravitational lensing by located “on the road” galaxy cluster Abell spectacular 1689. Excluding this gain, very faint glow of the galaxy would be for us not to be registered. To observe the splendor of the ALMA radio telescope system was used, VLT telescope helped measure the distance from the galaxy itself.

Published in the journal “Nature” is the fruit of the results of the first-ever observations of dust within the galaxies we see in the period, when the universe was only about 700 million years – five percent of its present age. They show a surprisingly Szubka, even rapid evolution of galaxies after the Big Bang. A1689-ZD1 is relatively small, much less massive and bright than many other objects from the period of the universe that have been studied. These features indicate that it may be a typical example of the galaxy with his time.

Abell 1689 in the “lens” Hubble. Barely visible square marked A1689-ZD1

/ NASA; ESA; L. Bradley (Johns Hopkins University); R. Bouwens (University of California, Santa Cruz); H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University); and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz) /

A1689-ZD1 we see in the days when only the earliest stars began to illuminate the universe. Astronomers expect that the object will then look like the newly formed galaxy. Nothing could be further from the truth. A1689-ZD1 surprised observers by the complexity of their chemical composition and the presence of interstellar dust.

It was expected that there is no heavier chemical elements – anything heavier than hydrogen and helium. Such elements are formed in stars and multiple stellar generations need to generate a significant amount of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Surprisingly galaxy A1689-ZD1 seems to radiate a lot of far-infrared radiation, which indicates that he produced many celebrities and significant amounts of heavier elements. Also, the proportion of dust in the gas seems to be similar to this level in a much more developed galaxies. If so, the dust has formed much faster than we thought.

Based on ESO press release.