Hubble Uncovers a Baby Galaxy in a Grown-Up Universe

This is pretty cool. I just saw this and thought I'd share. Also a link to where you can view really big pictures.

In 2004, Hubble Space Telescope snapped this beautiful shot of a very young galaxy. This "late bloomer" may not have begun active star formation until about 13 billion years after the Big Bang. Called I Zwicky 18, the galaxy may be as young as 500 million years old. Learn more here:

quote from SETI Institute



hubblesite.org... &utm_campaign=buffer

Beautiful shot, you can really tell this galaxy is young compared to others, it's so small yet still enormous!
Space shots always leave me speechless.

cheers

originally posted by: WhiteWine
Beautiful shot, you can really tell this galaxy is young compared to others, it's so small yet still enormous!
Space shots always leave me speechless.

cheers

What you said!! Yes!! That's why I posted ..I set there looking at the picture..and then the whole brain thing starts going lol!! We just can't wrap are brains around the universe!! But, we can look!! Which in itself is amazing!!

Sorry to be a party pooper (hey, it seems to be my main occupation on ATS!), but that Hubble article is very old, from 2004. Since then, much older stars were discovered in that galaxy, indicating that it is approximately as old as its neighbours, and simply underwent a recent burst of star formation: apod.nasa.gov...

How old is this galaxy? The galaxy on the left, I Zwicky 18, was once thought to be one of the youngest galaxies on record since its bright stars indicated an age of only 500 million years. The galaxy was also intriguing because it resembled galaxies forming in the very early universe, but mysterious since it is so nearby -- only 59 million light years away -- and surrounded by galaxies that are significantly older. Recent images of I Zwicky 18 by the Hubble Space Telescope have helped resolve this mystery, discovering a population of old faint stars intermixed with the bright star population. Therefore I Zwicky 18 is now thought to be just as old as its neighbors, roughly 10 billion years old, but with an intense episode of relative new star formation. Possibly the trigger for this recent episode of bright star formation is the changing gravitational influence of I Zwicky 18's smaller companion galaxy, visible at the upper right.

Still, it's an amazing picture!

Seeing pictures like this makes me think how we are just a tiny insignificant speck in the universe, but yet we as humans think that we are the center of everything. We live on a planet that we as a species are hell bent on destroying.
These pictures are beautiful, and should make people realize that we are pretty lucky to be here.

a reply to: JHumm

Yes. We are so lucky to be alive now. We can see the stars. We can feel and hear the song of space.

a reply to: RUFFREADY

Now imagine those who will be alive in a 1000 years and that will make an animated gif with all the stills that will be taken until then, and SEE it evolve and mature... Well, not so much, but you get the idea... lol

Nice pic, with the "cloud" enveloping the seemingly dual "balls" of lights.

There was no big bang. The universe is infinite and all systems in it, from stars/solar systems, to galaxies, are recycled and reformed. That's what black holes do.

originally posted by: Unity_99
There was no big bang. The universe is infinite and all systems in it, from stars/solar systems, to galaxies, are recycled and reformed. That's what black holes do.

Interesting. Please give more information as to how this idea works with observations such as the Cosmic microwave background radiation and the general red-shifting of galaxies away from us (the expanding universe), plus Olber's Paradox.

a reply to: RUFFREADY


Great post S+F

To put the age of this galaxy in context, it was born during Earth's Paleozoic era. So, even though 500 million years is long ago in human terms, it was just a month ago in Earth's geologic time scale:

originally posted by: Unity_99
There was no big bang. The universe is infinite and all systems in it, from stars/solar systems, to galaxies, are recycled and reformed. That's what black holes do.

Evidence for the Big Bang is well established in the cosmic background microwave radiation and the redshift of far away galaxies.

Also back Holes do not do what you say at all. If you are going to offer nonsense like this then at least give us a link to where you're getting it from.

a reply to: JadeStar

Hi Jade --

You may want to check out the link in the post by 'wildspace' above.

It seems that at first it was thought that I Zwicky 18 was only 500 million years old, but further examination of the galaxy has found that there are old stars there too among the plethora of young stars. Therefore, that galaxy is thought to be about 10 billion years old.

It is interesting, though, that there would be such a "baby boom" of stars in that galaxy about 500 million years ago.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: JadeStar

It is interesting, though, that there would be such a "baby boom" of stars in that galaxy about 500 million years ago.

This galaxy's appearance reminds me of the Large Magellanic Cloud with its Tarantula Nebula, which has also seen a very active star formation. Gravitational perturbations from neighbouring galaxies is most likely the cause.

originally posted by: NowanKenubi
a reply to: RUFFREADY

Now imagine those who will be alive in a 1000 years and that will make an animated gif with all the stills that will be taken until then, and SEE it evolve and mature... Well, not so much, but you get the idea... lol

Nice pic, with the "cloud" enveloping the seemingly dual "balls" of lights.

Hahahahaa! ok.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: JadeStar

Hi Jade --

You may want to check out the link in the post by 'wildspace' above.

It seems that at first it was thought that I Zwicky 18 was only 500 million years old, but further examination of the galaxy has found that there are old stars there too among the plethora of young stars. Therefore, that galaxy is thought to be about 10 billion years old.

It is interesting, though, that there would be such a "baby boom" of stars in that galaxy about 500 million years ago.

Yes. There must have been one vast stellar nursery which spanned that galaxy 500 million years ago.