Astronomers peer at distant epoch

[OXO]

Galaxies were forming in the Universe about 700 million years after the Big Bang, scientists say, but very large groupings of stars were rare.

The evidence comes from two new studies reported in the journal Nature.

One identifies a galaxy that is 12.8 billion light-years away, meaning it would have formed when the cosmos was about 6% of its current age.

It is the oldest observed galaxy based on an analysis of the way the expanding Universe has stretched its light.

Astronomers use a measure called redshift to describe this stretching - the expansion pulls the light out to longer, redder wavelengths - and IOK-1, as it is now known, has a redshift of 6.96.

Its detection has pushed current technology to its limits. The sky is generally bright at these infrared wavelengths and picking out individual, very faint sources is painstaking work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5345732.stm

[FLO]

We have seen back in time 12.8 billion years :shock: 8)

[The Warthog]

You can never see anything in real time. The Moon is a second and a quarter ago. Even if you're sitting across the table from your friend, you are still seeing him as he was 1/300,000,000 of a second ago. He could be dead by now for all you know!

It can make you afraid to move.