Astronomers have pinpointed the farthest known galaxy in the universe, appearing as a glowing red object formed just 330 million years after the "Big Bang." The faint light from the galaxy took 13.5 billion years to reach us here on Earth. The discoverers have named the galaxy "HD 1," and in their research published in the "Astrophysical Journal," they noted that they are unsure whether it is a stellar galaxy, but they have located a massive black hole at its center. According to scientist Fabio Pacucci from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, accurately answering details about a galaxy at such a great distance is extremely challenging. "Discovering objects from the early stages of the universe is very difficult," he stated.
As reported by the science news site "Science Alert," four telescopes were used to observe the galaxy, and the researchers dedicated 1,200 hours to monitoring. Commenting on the discovery, astronomer Yuichi Harikane from the University of Tokyo said, "Finding the galaxy among more than 700,000 objects was extremely challenging. The red color of HD 1 matches the expected characteristics of a galaxy 13.5 billion light-years away."
The specific red color of galaxies is known as "redshift," occurring when a light source moves away from us, leading to an increase in the wavelength of the light coming from that source towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is why it is called so. As the universe expands, other galaxies appear to exhibit a redshift; notably, the greater the distance in spacetime, the greater the "redshift." Researchers hope that information and images obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope will help reveal the nature of this galaxy's light and uncover more secrets about the formation and evolution of the universe.
