20 Nov, 2014 at 12:41:PM IST
In a surprising development which could provide a deeper insight into the universe, seven new galaxies have been galaxies have been discovered by the astronomers.
The Subaru Telescope in Japan was used by a team of astronomers, led by graduate student Akira Konno and Dr Masami Ouchi, to identify to search a particular type called Lyman-alpha Emitters (LAEs) which are low mass galaxies.
According to astronomers, the most massive objects in the universe are galaxy clusters as they contain hundreds to thousands of galaxies. The gravitational force keeps the galaxies together.
It is notable that Big Bang led to the creation of the universe about 13.8 billion years ago. It was the time when stars and galaxies were formed initially and later their ultraviolet light ionised which is a process called 'cosmic reionisation'.
The astronomers have searched for early LAE galaxies at a distance of 13.1 billion light years, in a bid to investigate the phenomenon of cosmic reionisation.
"At first we were very disappointed at this small number. But we realised that this indicates LAEs appeared suddenly about 13 billion years ago. This is an exciting discovery. We can see that the luminosities suddenly brightened during the 700 to 800 million years after the Big Bang. What would cause this?" Konno said.
The findings of the study are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
http://www.delhidailynews.com/news/Seven-new-galaxies-discovered-1416467462/
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