Scientists spot oldest known galaxy in the universe

Scientists discover the oldest galaxy in the universe. It could be the answer to mysteries surrounding the Big Bang.
By David Sims | Sep 08, 2015
Scientists have discovered the oldest known galaxy in the universe, it's 13 times older than any other galaxy known to man.

In a new research published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of Caltech researchers discovered a new galaxy named EGS8p7, that was just 600 million years younger than the universe itself.

Galaxy EGS8p7 has been reported to date back 13.2 billion years ago, leap years ahead of the earlier known oldest galaxies that were 500 million to 1 billion years old. The universe as we know it is 13.8 billion years old.

According to scientists, finding the ancient bodies is almost impossible because of their faint light. So faint is it that even the most advanced technological gadgets cannot spot them.

Theoretically, galaxy EGS8p7 is not any different. Its special era is filled with neutral hydrogen clouds that absorb radiation, making the galaxy invisible.

Scientists opined that the galaxy's finding was because the hydrogen reionization in its special era was patchy, making it feasible to spot some galaxies but not others. In addition, the galaxy may have had a huge population of exceptionally hot stars creating a mammoth hydrogen bubble, broadcasting the presence of the galaxy across the universe.

Adi Zitrin, NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Scholar in Astronomy said of the find, "Evidence from several observations indicate that the reionization process probably is patchy. Some objects are so bright that they form a bubble of ionized hydrogen. But the process is not coherent in all directions."

The researchers stated they were thoroughly calculating the chances of getting to find the galaxy and seeing the emissions from it.

