TOKYO: Astronomers have discovered a 13-billion-year-old galaxy cluster that is the earliest ever observed, according to a paper released on Friday, a finding that may hold clues about how the universe developed.
Such an early-stage cluster -- called a protocluster -- is "not easy to find", Yuichi Harikane, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan who led the international team, said in a press release.
"A protocluster is a rare and special system with an extremely high density," Harikane said, adding that the researchers used the wide viewing field of the Subaru telescope in Hawaii to "map a large area of the sky" in their search.
The discovery of the protocluster, a collection of 12 galaxies, suggests that large cosmic structures were present in the very early stages of the universe, which scientists believe was born 13.8 billion years ago.
One of the 12 galaxies is known as Himiko, a giant gas cloud found in 2009 by using the same telescope. "It is reasonable to find a protocluster near a massive object, such as Himiko. However, we’re surprised to see that Himiko was located... on the edge 500 million light-years away from the centre," the paper’s co-author Masami Ouchi said.
"It is still not understood why Himiko is not located in the centre," he said. "These results will be key for understanding the relationship between clusters and massive galaxies." The team included scientists from Imperial College London and the study is published in Friday’s Astrophysical Journal.
After Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, Warsaw did not officially recognise him as US president for several weeks
“If you tell this story anywhere in Europe, no one is going to believe you,” Magyar said
Many Panamanians streaming out of voting stations cited graft as one of their main concerns
The previous longest baguette of 132.62 meters was baked in the Italian city of Como in June 2019
The village is in northwest of onetime Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka which Russia captured in February
Lauga reached out to police early on April 28 and an investigation is underway, she said in an instagram post