Just passing this along because I’m a space geek, and also because I believe the real universe is far more wondrous and awe-inspiring than anything imagined. And there’s a LOT more at the link.
Record-breaking galaxy found at the edge of the Universe
from Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait
The record for the most distant object in the Universe ever seen has been smashed: a galaxy has been found at the staggering distance of 13.1 billion light years!
Here’s the Hubble image of this incredibly far-flung object:
Yeah, I know. Doesn’t look like much, does it? But oh, what it means…
That’s a galaxy, probably smaller and more compact than our Milky Way, but a galaxy. It’s so dim that the faintest star you can see with your unaided eye is 4 billion times brighter. Its distance is simply numbing; the Universe itself is only 13.7 billion years old, so the light from this object began its journey on its way to Earth just 600 million years after the Universe itself formed.
ArcherVox 