In this image, astronomers use NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and a cosmic zoom lens to uncover the farthest known galaxy in the universe.
The newly discovered galaxy, named MACS0647-JD, is very young and only a tiny fraction of the size of our Milky Way. The object is observed 420 million years after the big bang, when the universe was 3 percent of its present age of 13.7 billion years. The inset at left shows a close-up of the young dwarf galaxy.
This is the latest discovery from a large program that uses massive clusters of galaxies as natural zoom lenses to reveal distant galaxies in the early universe. Called the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), the program allows astronomers to use the gravity of massive galaxy clusters to magnify distant galaxies behind them, an effect called gravitational lensing.
In this Hubble observation, astronomers used the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0647+7015 as the giant cosmic telescope. The bright yellow galaxies near the center of the image are cluster members. The cluster's gravity boosted the light from the faraway galaxy, making its image appear approximately eight times brighter than it otherwise would. The gravitational lensing technique allowed astronomers to detect the galaxy more efficiently and with greater confidence. Without the cluster's magnification powers, astronomers would not have seen this remote galaxy.
This image is a composite taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The observations were taken Oct. 5 and Nov. 29, 2011.
Credits
NASA, ESA, M. Postman and D. Coe (STScI), and the CLASH Team| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | MACS J0647+7015, MACS0647-JD |
| Object Description | Galaxy Cluster/Gravitational Lens and z=11 Galaxy Candidate |
| R.A. Position | 06h 47m 49.78s |
| Dec. Position | 70° 14' 56.4" |
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Distance | The distance to the cluster is 5.6 billion light-years (1.7 billion parsecs or redshift z = 0.591). The distance to the lensed source is 13.3 billion light-years (4 billion parsecs or redshift z = 11). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals : M. Postman (STScI); : H. Ebeling (University of Hawaii); and and : A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2011, Exposure Time: 27.5 hours |
| Filters | ACS/WFC: F435W (B), F475W (g), F555W (V), F606W (V), F625W (r), F775W (I), F814W (I), and F850LP (z) WFC3/IR: F105W (Y), F110W (YJ), F125W (J), F140W (JH), and F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and WFC3 instruments. Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ACS/WFC F435W (B) + F475W (g) + F555W (V) + F606W (V) + F625W (r) Green: ACS/WFC F775W (I) + F814W (I) + F850LP (z), and WFC3/IR F105W (Y) + F110W (YJ) + F125W (J) Red: WFC3/IR F140W (JH) + F160W (H) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
