Nasa captures a lonely galaxy from the -dark ages- of the
universe 13.2billion years ago - thanks to an extraordinary trick of the lens
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2206713/Nasa-captures-lonely-galaxy-dark-ages-universe-13-2billion-years-ago--thanks-extraordinary-trick-lens.html
The galaxy is so far away - the ray of light journeyed for
13.2 billion years to get bring us this image - that by rights, we should not
be able to see it.
But thanks to a universe-wide trick of the light, we have
been able to glimpse back at a galaxy so far, far away, and from such a long,
long time ago, that its light shone out when the universe was just 500 million
years old - and still shrouded in blackness.
Nasa's Hubble satellite should not have been able to see it.
But as the galaxy passed behind a giant cluster of galaxies,
the cluster acted like a giant lens magnifying the light by 15 times - and
bringing us this tiny glimpse of the universe in its earliest years.
The image was released today - just as the finishing touches
are put on to the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch
later this decade to bring back even more distant images.