Mind blown: Oldest galaxies in the universe found

Doyle Rice

 

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© Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesA long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

But this isn't science fiction: Astronomers down here on Earth identified some of the oldest galaxies in the universe, a new study says. At 13 billion years old, the galaxies began to form "only" about 100 million years after the Big Bang.

The galaxies are actually nearby, in orbit around our own Milky Way galaxy. 

Study co-author Carlos Frenk of Durham University said, "Finding some of the very first galaxies that formed in our universe orbiting in the Milky Way's own backyard is the astronomical equivalent of finding the remains of the first humans that inhabited the Earth. It is hugely exciting."

Here's how it all went down: When the universe was about 380,000 years old, the first hydrogen atoms formed. These atoms collected into clouds and began to gradually cool and settle into small clumps of dark matter, the study says.

This cooling phase, known as the "cosmic dark ages," lasted about 100 million years. Eventually, the gas that had cooled inside the clouds began to form stars, and these objects became the first galaxies ever to have formed.

Researchers said their discovery aligned perfectly with a model of galaxy formation that they had developed.

"A decade ago, the faintest galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky Way would have gone under the radar," said study lead author Sownak Bose with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He said new and better sensing techniques have shown "a whole new trove of the tiniest galaxies has come into the light, allowing us to test theoretical models in new regimes."

The study was published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mind-blown-oldest-galaxies-in-the-universe-found/ar-BBM1KP5