Astronomy - February 2014

ASTRONEWS

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Astronomers have discovered and

confirmed one of the most distant

galaxies yet: It was rapidly forming

stars when the universe was just 700

million years old. Steven Finkelstein

of the University of Texas at Austin

and colleagues reported their discov-

ery in the October 24 issue of Nature.

To hunt distant galaxies, the

scientists looked for a specific wave-

length of energy that corresponds to

hydrogen. The universe’s expansion

stretches this ultraviolet “Lyman-

alpha” (Lyα) emission to infrared. The

team looked for this wavelength in

43 candidate galaxies and found it

in just one — z8_GND_5296. They

also measured the rate of star forma-

tion; the galaxy is converting about

330 times the Sun’s mass of gas into

stars every year.

Finkelstein’s team expected to

observe Lyα light from six of the

43 candidate galaxies it studied.

The astronomers say the lack of this

radiation implies that some process

is making this light in the early uni-

verse difficult to detect. Telescopes

that can study longer wavelengths

in more detail — like the Atacama

Large Millimeter/submillimeter

Array and the future James Webb

Space Telescope and CCAT projects

— should help this research. Those

instruments will be able to study the

gas within distant galaxies. — L. K.

Are distant galaxies hiding?

FINAL PIECE. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array received

its 66th and fnal antenna, the collaboration announced October 1.

Cassini takes extraordinary Saturn portrait

SATURNIAN SYSTEM. On July 19, 2013, the Cassini spacecraft watched as Saturn eclipsed the Sun. Members

of the Cassini team took advantage of the geometric alignment to capture 323 images in four hours of the backlit

planet, seven of its moons, and its inner rings. Cassini also photographed Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mars. This

natural-color mosaic, released November 12, incorporates 141 of those wide-angle pictures. The outermost ring

shown here is Saturn’s E ring, which lies about 149,000 miles (240,000 kilometers) from the ringed world. Geysers

erupting from the surface of the saturnian moon Enceladus supply the ice particles that make up this ring. Smaller

satellites help keep the shape of the planet’s many other rings.

Cassini was 746,000 miles (1.2 million km) from Saturn when it imaged the system. This picture is about 400,000

miles (640,000km) across and captures details on Saturn as small as 45 miles (72km) wide per pixel. When processing

the image, the Cassini team brightened many of the moons and rings — in addition to Earth, Venus, and Mars — to

make them more visible in the released picture. Scientists can use the images taken during the eclipse to learn more

about the faint rings of Saturn. — L. K.

ONE OF MANY? Astronomers confirmed that the galaxy z8_GND_5296

existed 700 million years after the Big Bang. However, they expected to

find five more distant galaxies.

V. TILVI/S. L. FINkELSTEIN/C. PAPOVICH/A. kOEkEMOEr/CANDELS/STS

CI/NASA

NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SSI

Earth and the Moon

Mars

Venus

Telescopes.net

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