Ron
December 1st 04, 05:34 PM
EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 am (EST) December 1, 2004
CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )
Fariss Samarrai
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
(Phone: 434-924-3778; E-mail: )
PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-35
HUBBLE UNCOVERS A BABY GALAXY IN A GROWN-UP UNIVERSE
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have measured the
age of what may be the youngest galaxy ever seen in the universe.
By cosmological standards it is a mere toddler seemingly out of place
among the grown-up galaxies around it. Called I Zwicky 18, it may be
as young as 500 million years old (so recent an epoch that complex
life had already begun to appear on Earth). Our Milky Way galaxy by
contrast is over 20 times older, or about 12 billion years old, the
typical age of galaxies across the universe. This "late-life" galaxy
offers a rare glimpse into what the first diminutive galaxies in the
early universe look like.
To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/35
For more information, please contact:
Trinh Thuan, University of Virginia, Department of Astronomy,
Box 38918, Univ. Station, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818,
(phone) 434-924-4894,(e-mail)
Goran Ostlin, Stockholm Observatory, Institute for Astronomy,
AlbaNova, SCFAB, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-106 91 Stockholm,
Sweden, (phone) +46-8-5537-8513, (e-mail)
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international
cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )
Fariss Samarrai
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
(Phone: 434-924-3778; E-mail: )
PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-35
HUBBLE UNCOVERS A BABY GALAXY IN A GROWN-UP UNIVERSE
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have measured the
age of what may be the youngest galaxy ever seen in the universe.
By cosmological standards it is a mere toddler seemingly out of place
among the grown-up galaxies around it. Called I Zwicky 18, it may be
as young as 500 million years old (so recent an epoch that complex
life had already begun to appear on Earth). Our Milky Way galaxy by
contrast is over 20 times older, or about 12 billion years old, the
typical age of galaxies across the universe. This "late-life" galaxy
offers a rare glimpse into what the first diminutive galaxies in the
early universe look like.
To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/35
For more information, please contact:
Trinh Thuan, University of Virginia, Department of Astronomy,
Box 38918, Univ. Station, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818,
(phone) 434-924-4894,(e-mail)
Goran Ostlin, Stockholm Observatory, Institute for Astronomy,
AlbaNova, SCFAB, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-106 91 Stockholm,
Sweden, (phone) +46-8-5537-8513, (e-mail)
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international
cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).