In the current model for the creation of life, the universe, and everything, it all started with a big bang, or rather, THE Big Bang.  Some 600 million years after that cosmic creation event, the galaxy identified as UDFy-38135539 formed.  That makes UDFy-38135539 the oldest galaxy in the universe, at least when it comes to galaxies that have been captured on record by humanity.

UDFy-38135539 was captured by a special attachment of the Hubble Telescope, known as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.  It was discovered by researcher Matthew Lehnert of the Observatoire de Paris, in France.  According to Lehnert’s calculation, the light from UDFy-38135539 traveled over 13 million light years to be visible to the Hubble, but there is speculation that this galactic senior citizen won’t hang onto its title as oldest object discovered in the universe won’t hold its title for long.

“I don’t think this is the limit, perhaps not even that close to it,” said Lehnert.  “UDFy-38135539 was already a challenge and perhaps we won’t be able to do much better than it for a while yet.”  Given the current equipment, and our current interest in finding other inhabitable planets and making contact with aliens, this might be as deep as we can go until some Hubble replacement gets launched.

Tags: oldest galaxy in the universe discovered, 13 million light years away, ancient galaxy discovered, Hubble Telescope, UDFy-38135539, galaxy formed 600 million years after the Big Bang, astronomy, Hubble Ultra Deep Field, Matthew Lehnert, Observatoire de Paris, France

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