Tiny (but ultra bright) quartet of ancient galaxies takes astronomers by surprise
Tue, 01/07/2014
Combining the power of two major NASA space telescopes, Yale astronomer Pascal Oesch and his collaborators have found four young, exceptionally bright galaxies rich in emerging stars at a time when the universe was only 500 million years old. The tiny galaxies — captured early in the universe’s formation — are about 10 to 20 times more luminous than anything previously seen and about one-twentieth the size of the Milky Way, Earth’s more mature home galaxy.