An international team of astronomers has discovered the most distant radio galaxy from us. The distance to it has allowed to define the analysis of data on its redshift. It turned out that galaxy is away from us 12 billion light years. In other words, taken by telescopes radiation was emitted when the Universe was only 7% of the current. Previously, scientists believed that these objects did not exist in those ancient days. About his discovery, astronomers reported in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
By themselves, the radio galaxies are relatively rare in the Universe. They have a much higher radiation compared to other galaxies. It’s a huge galaxy, located in their Central supermassive black holes actively attracting dust and gas from the surrounding space. This activity leads to the release of high-energy rays capable of accelerating charged particles to almost light speed.
The object of scientific research is called TGSS J1530+1049. It was discovered using the Giant meter radio telescope (GMRT) set in India. To determine the distance to the galaxy, a team of researchers from the Netherlands, Brazil, Italy and the UK have measured the red shift of its light waves with a telescope Gemini North on Hawaii island, as well as a Large binocular telescope in Arizona (USA). The farther away galaxies are, the faster they are moving away from us, so the light from them seems to be more red because of the Doppler shift. Thus, the faster it moves away from us a galaxy is, the greater will be its redshift.
Further observation of the object TGSS J1530+1049 using the VLA radio telescope has allowed scientists to determine its apparent size. And on this basis, taking into consideration the calculated distance, the astronomers determined the actual size of radio galaxies. It is about 11400 light years. On the basis of the conventional models, the astronomers also estimated the upper limit on the mass of the stars in this system. It was equal to about 30 billion suns.
The previous most distant from us radio galaxy was discovered in 1999. At the time the measurement indicator of its redshift was z=5,19. Due to this, scientists found that she was at a distance of about 11 billion light years. The title of the most distant radio galaxies, she served for almost 20 years. Have discovered radio galaxies TGSS J1530+1049 redshift is z = 5,72 that tells about the distance of nearly 12 billion light-years.
The existence of this galaxy was very surprised scientists. Because this object and a supermassive black hole at the center belong to the era when you barely had the first stars came out. Therefore, the opening of such radio galaxies is considered extremely important for our understanding of the processes of formation and evolution of galaxies. The study of such objects can also shed light on the formation of black holes, which is considered responsible for the formation and growth of galaxies.
Astronomers have discovered a record-breaking distant from us a radio galaxy
Nikolai Khizhnyak