Discussion: Japanese Detect Most Distant Galaxy

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: The Subaru telescope, based in Japan, has detected the most distant galaxy ever recorded at 12.8 billion light-years away. The Subaru Deep Field project team uncovered 70 candidate distant objects, by using a special filter which only allows light of a very specific wavelength to pass through - one that corresponds to objects which are approximately 13 billion light-years away.

What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.

[galaxygirl]

How could a galaxy form that soon after the Big Bang? Didn't it take 2 billion years for "normal" matter to exist?

[antoniseb]

Originally posted by galaxygirl@Jun 11 2004, 04:47 PM
Didn't it take 2 billion years for "normal" matter to exist?

No, the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation comes from the time when the universe cooled from plasma to atoms, and that was 380,000 years after the start of everything.

It does seem like 700 million years after the big bang is a little quick to form a galaxy, but if there were early supermassive black holes [a controversial idea], it would take much less time then that.

[galaxygirl]

Originally posted by antoniseb+Jun 11 2004, 12:50 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (antoniseb @ Jun 11 2004, 12:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-galaxygirl@Jun 11 2004, 04:47 PM
Didn&#39;t it take 2 billion years for "normal" matter to exist?

No, the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation comes from the time when the universe cooled from plasma to atoms, and that was 380,000 years after the start of everything.
[/b][/quote]
Oh well, I was only 1,999,620,000 years off...

How would the supermassive black holes get there so fast?

[Guest]

The distribution of electromagnetic energy from a point source is said to be inversally proportional to the square of the distance from the dipole.

However, modern astronomers have a different formula for calculating the distance of galactic objects from the Earth.

The formula seems to be this...........distance (in light years) is :

The brillance of the obect, times their imagination squared.

Ask an astronomer , what is the distance from their front door to their nearest shopping centre. The answer will surprise you.


Digitaria

[antoniseb]

Originally posted by galaxygirl@Jun 11 2004, 05:18 PM
[How would the supermassive black holes get there so fast?

There are a few possibilities, but none are confirmed as even being realistic possibilities:

1. [My favorite] the accoustic waves that led to the variations in the CMB could well have pushed walls of plasma matter together, and the SMBH&#39;s might have gravitationally collapsed out of this without ever getting a chance to ignite in hydrogen fusion. [Details are fuzzy]. [This might have happened when the universe was 400,000 to 600,000 years old.

2. Some artifact of the Big Bang, like cosmic strings, collapsed on themselves and became SMBH&#39;s

3. Magnetic fields from the condensing plasma at CMB time bound enough material close enough together that gravity took over and collapsed matter into long cylinders which themselves collapsed into SMBH&#39;s.

[plenty of other choices, I really haven&#39;t pondered this for long].

[TuTone]

Those Japs & their technology...they&#39;re good&#33;&#33;

[Tom2Mars]

I&#39;m guessing that SMBH&#39;s could get a head start in forming due to all the matter in existence being so close together?

[kashi]

I&#39;m wondering where the telescope is situated. Light pollution and normal pollution are big problems in Japan due to the extremely high population density. I&#39;m guessing it must be in the Northern island of Hokkaido.

[VanderL]

Sorry guys, this is an old news item (2001 I think), in the meantime the distance record is broken several times and as far as I know the champion is a galaxy at z=10. Try to explain that with the latest version of the Big Bang. But undoubtedly there are a lot of ways to wriggle out of it (so many additions and changes in the last decades I&#39;m not surprised when the "age" claim will change again soon). I would like to hear what it takes to invalidate the BB theory; when do we call it quits?

Cheers.

[Manchurian Taikonaut]

Originally posted by kashi@Jun 12 2004, 01:30 AM
I&#39;m wondering where the telescope is situated. Light pollution and normal pollution are big problems in Japan due to the extremely high population density. I&#39;m guessing it must be in the Northern island of Hokkaido.

even Hokkaido is full of flashing lights, adverts, gambling joints, and neon signs

and you though the USA had bad light pollution
check this image

http://www.pietro.org/images/LightPollutionJP.jpg

I think good telescopes must be down in Okinawa B)