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EMBARGOED until 4 April 2008 00:01 BST
Issued by: Dr. Robert Massey, Press Officer Issued by: Inge Heyer, Science Outreach Specialist Images, notes, and contact details appear below. 4 April 2008 Witnessing the Formation of Distant GalaxiesUK astronomers have produced the most sensitive infrared map of the distant Universe ever undertaken. Combining data over a period of three years, they have produced an image containing over 100,000 galaxies over an area four times the size of the full moon. Some of the first results from this project will be presented by Dr Sebastien Foucaud from the University of Nottingham on Friday 4th April at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast. Due to the finite speed of light, these observations allow astronomers to look back in time over 10 billion years, producing images of galaxies in the Universe's infancy. The image is so large and so deep that thousands of galaxies can be studied at these early epochs for the first time. By observing in the infrared, astronomers can now peer further back in time, since light from the most distant galaxies is shifted towards redder wavelengths as it travels through the expanding Universe. "I would compare these observations to the ice cores drilled deep into the Antarctic," said Dr Foucaud. "Just as they allow us to peer back in time, our ultra-deep image allows us to look back and observe galaxies evolving at different stages in cosmic history, all the way back to just 1 billion years after the Big Bang". One of the key aims is to understand when the rarest, most massive galaxies form in the distant Universe, which is a long-standing unsolved problem in astronomy. "We see galaxies 10 times the mass of the Milky Way already in place at very early epochs. Now, for the first time, we are sampling a large enough volume of the distant Universe to be able to see them in sufficient numbers and really pin down when they were formed." The image was obtained using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii. The results presented today form part of the Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS), led by Dr Omar Almaini at the University of Nottingham. The UDS is one element of a five-part project, the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, which commenced in 2005. Professor Andy Lawrence, Principal Investigator of UKIDSS from the University of Edinburgh, said "As we keep taking images over the next few years, we will see ever more distant galaxies." Images
Zooming into a small fraction of the UKIDSS UDS field, the deepest infrared image ever obtained over such a large area. The zoom shows a relatively nearby spiral galaxy. Many of the faint red objects in the background are massive galaxies at distances of over 10 billion light years.
The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
The Wide Field Camera (long black tube) on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Notes for EditorsLight YearOne light year is about 10 million million kilometres or 6 million million miles. Infrared LightInfrared wavelengths are longer wavelengths than light waves. They are typically measured in microns, also called micrometres. One micron is one millionth of a metre, one 10000th of a centimetre, or one 25000th of an inch. UKIRTThe world's largest telescope dedicated solely to infrared astronomy, the 3.8-metre (12.5-foot) UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) is sited near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an altitude of 4194 metres (13760 feet) above sea level. It is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo, Hawaii, on behalf of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. More about the UK Infrared Telescope: http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/articles/aboutukirt/ RASRoyal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom. NAMThe RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2008) is hosted by Queen's University Belfast. It is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). NAM 2008 is being held together with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) spring meetings. Science and Technology Facilities CouncilThe Science and Technology Facilities Council is an independent, non-departmental public body of the Office of Science and Innovation which itself is part of the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills. It was formed as a new Research Council on 1 April 2007 through a merger of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the transfer of responsibility for nuclear physics from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). We are one of seven national research councils in the UK. The Science and Technology Facilities Council is government funded and provides research grants and studentships to scientists in British universities, gives researchers access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, the European Space Agency and the European Southern Observatory. It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility. ContactsPlease note that it is best to contact these individuals by email.
Science ContactsPlease note that it is best to contact these individuals by email.
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