Formed 12.91 billion light years ago, the team from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan viewed the new discovery from high tech telescopes based on the Hawaiian mountain of Mauna Kea.
The discovery of these ancient galaxies effectively means that scientists are viewing stars from the past – as the source of the light is over six trillion miles away and takes ‘light years’ for the light signals to reach the earth. Yup, they’re looking back in time.
Complicated stuff – and it’s made even more complicated by unconfirmed competing claims that French scientists discovered an even older galaxy using the Hubble telescope that was from 13.1 billion years ago. A California team even claimed a galaxy that was 13.2 billion light years ago, also using Hubble.
Still, what’s a few million light years between friends?
