A long-distant galaxy – physics is always impressive

It has been more than five years since scientists made their first guess about the oldest galaxy we could see. This initial attempt to have a look at the universe’s weird history was the most important step in modern physics to allow scientists to find a path that will lead them to answer ”where it all started from.” Mankind has made such progress over the years and apart from what we experience here, we are always eager to know what is going on outside this time and space.

The amazing discovery
A blur of pixels that were condensed in front of a dark background, is claimed to be the oldest and most distant galaxy in the universe, according to a publication of the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. The publication was co-written by a team of astronomers from UCLA University and telescopic observatories built on the highest volcano in Hawaii, Mauna Kea who were recruited for the discovery.

The funny games of light
The Milky Way was hidden behind a swarm of galaxies and has been detected in the form it had 13 billion years ago. Virtual time travel is possible. You see, photons travel at a clearly finite speed and when they arrive at the observer they carry past information. For example, the image of the moon reaches us with 1.28 seconds delay, while the sun is observed as it was 8 minutes and 20 seconds ago. Indeed, every piece of information in the universe travels at a maximum speed limit, the speed of light.

Even the gravitational pull. If the sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would continue to slide carefree onto its curved spacetime path for another 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Then our planet would go on a straight path to the unknown and disastrous consequences would be revealed to us. You realize that the image we collect of the universe is a space-time puzzle, a synthesis imposed by its inescapable rules.

The science behind it
The research team discovered the galaxy by exploiting the cosmic phenomenon of gravitational focus, during which the image of a distant object is magnified and scattered in positions different from the real one, due to the gravitational distortion of the space-time tissue. This happens when Intermediate bodies with a high concentration of mass are interposed, such as the galaxy cluster mentioned above. The phenomenon was predicted by Albert Einstein, a century ago, and it was his first observation that gave a solemn confirmation of the general theory of relativity and secured worldwide fame to the leading theoretical physicist.

Why is the discovery of the most distant, ancient galaxy important?
It will help scientists understand how the mysterious “dark age” of the universe, or the cosmic Middle Ages, ended. According to the Big Bang Theory, the ionized plasma of the universe expanded sufficiently over 380,000 years to cool dramatically from 400 to 60 degrees Kelvin, and this allowed protons to capture electrons. However, there were still no light sources, except for the cosmic background radiation, hence the designation “Dark Age”.

A few hundred million years later, due to an unequal distribution of the universe’s mass and the consequent gravitational collapse of gas clouds in some places, the first stars were formed. This began to produce ultraviolet light capable of ionizing interstellar hydrogen. Eventually, when several stars formed, all of the hydrogens were reionized and the universe emerged into its present form. However, scientists doubt and disagree about the causes of hydrogen reionization. Did the universe have enough stars to cause this cosmic scale effect?

Still looking for answers
The answer is deeply buried in the past and reflected in the image of distant, ancient galaxies. Unfortunately, most are too hard to see even for modern telescopes and the light that arrives is very weak. The solution can only be sought in magnifying glasses of cosmic scale: the phenomenon of gravitational focus that we described earlier. This was taken advantage of by the researchers and discovered the inconspicuous, ancient galaxy that hides so many secrets. The discovery was considered important and elucidated big cosmological questions about the evolution of the structure of the early universe.

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