Friday, March 04, 2005
The Universe Got Old Young
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have watched the most distant object in the known Universe. The object is a remote cluster of galaxies that weigh as much as several thousand galaxies like our own Milky Way. It hovers 9 billion light years away. That's 500 million light years farther out than the previous record holding cluster.
The cluster must have formed when the Universe was less than one third of its present age, just 4.7 billion years after the big bang. (The Universe is thought to be 13,7 billion years old.)
The discovery of such a complex and mature structure so early in the history of the Universe is "highly surprising," the scientists said. "Until recently it would even have been deemed impossible."
Clusters of galaxies are gigantic structures containing hundreds to thousands of galaxies. They are the fundamental building blocks of the Universe. They give us clues about the underlying architecture of the Universe as a whole. (Our Milky Way galaxy, for example, belongs to the Virgo supercluster.)
"We seem to have underestimated how quickly the early Universe matured into its present-day state," said Piero Rosati, a member of the ESO team. "The Universe did grow up fast!"
The cluster must have formed when the Universe was less than one third of its present age, just 4.7 billion years after the big bang. (The Universe is thought to be 13,7 billion years old.)
The discovery of such a complex and mature structure so early in the history of the Universe is "highly surprising," the scientists said. "Until recently it would even have been deemed impossible."
Clusters of galaxies are gigantic structures containing hundreds to thousands of galaxies. They are the fundamental building blocks of the Universe. They give us clues about the underlying architecture of the Universe as a whole. (Our Milky Way galaxy, for example, belongs to the Virgo supercluster.)
"We seem to have underestimated how quickly the early Universe matured into its present-day state," said Piero Rosati, a member of the ESO team. "The Universe did grow up fast!"
