Infrared image of the oldest known galaxy.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of Livermore National Lab
Scientists Find One of the First Galaxies
News story originally written on June 21, 1999
Scientists found an ancient galaxy that may be one of the first ever! The galaxy is hidden inside an enormous black hole. This black hole is estimated at 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The galaxy is approximately 11 billion years old. Recently, scientists revealed the expected age of the Universe to be 12 billion years old.
Because the galaxy is trapped within a black hole, scientists used radio signals to find it. When a black hole swallows something, it releases energy. Earth receives this energy in the form of radio waves. For over 30 years, scientists have received these waves. However, until now they did not know how to use them to create an image.
Scientists used the telescopes at Keck Observatory in Hawaii to create the images. This technology wasn't available when the first signals were received years ago.
You might also be interested in:
After eight long years, the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project Team finally revealed what they believe is the real Hubble Constant. The Hubble Constant is the speed which the Universe is expanding at.
...more
During the early 1900's, which is not very long ago, astronomers were unaware that there were other galaxies outside our own Milky Way Galaxy. When they saw a small fuzzy patch in the sky through their
...more
It was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great century of discovery. Unfortunately,
...more
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on October 29th at 2:19 p.m. EST. The weather was great as Discovery took 8 1/2 minutes to reach orbit. This was the United States' 123rd
...more
A moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. A special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon
...more
Will Russia ever put the service module for the International Space Station in space? NASA officials want an answer from the Russian government. The necessary service module is currently waiting to be
...more
A coronal mass ejection (CME) happened on the Sun early last month. The material that was thrown out from this explosion passed the ACE spacecraft. The SWICS instrument on ACE has produced a new and very
...more
