Astronomers detect the most distant galaxy rotation ever, suggesting an initial stage of rotational motion development.

Capturing the Beginning of Galaxy Rotation in the Early Universe

Astronomers have been able to detect more and more distant galaxies as telescopes have become more advanced and powerful. Since light travels at a finite speed and we see objects as they were when the light was emitted, the farther away something is, the farther back in time we are seeing. Therefore, these very distant galaxies are some of the earliest galaxies to form in our universe, which began to recede away from us as the universe expanded.

In fact, the greater the distance, the faster a galaxy appears to move away from us. Interestingly, we can estimate how fast a galaxy is moving, and in turn, when it was formed based on how “redshifted” its emission appears. This redshift is similar to a phenomenon called “Doppler effect,” where objects moving away from an observer emit the light that appears shifted towards longer wavelengths (hence the term “redshift”) to the observer.

Located in the midst of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope is especially well-suited for observing such redshifts in galaxy emissions. Recently, an international research team observed redshifted emissions of a distant galaxy, MACS1149-JD1 (hereafter JD1), which has led them to some fascinating conclusions. “Beyond finding high-redshift, namely very distant, galaxies, studying their internal motion of gas and stars provides motivation for understanding the process of galaxy formation in the earliest possible universe,” explains Ellis.

The team of international researchers included Professor Akio Inoue and graduate student Tsuyoshi Tokuoka from Waseda University, Japan, Dr. Takuya Hashimoto at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, Professor Richard S. Ellis at University College London, and Dr. Nicolas Laporte, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK. The findings of their study have been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Source: This news is originally published by scitechdaily

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