At the 'Cosmic Dawn' of our universe, the Big Bang did not immediately conceive a rapid succession of galaxies, but instead slowly filled out the far reaches of space.
Today, Astronomers announced that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the oldest galaxies ever spied by humanity, dating back as far as 380 million to 600 million years old. UDFj-39546284, the identification of the most ancient galaxy found "may be the farthest galaxy ever seen," according to Space.com.
"These early galaxies represent the building blocks of today's galaxies. It's the scientific story of Genesis, basically," says Harvard Astronomer Abraham Loeb. The professor notes that the findings "represent our cosmic roots" and results from "the biggest archeological dig that we have of the universe."
Study author Richard Ellis states that "The cosmic dawn was probably not a single, dramatic event."
Scientists assert that the Hubble Telescope reached its limits in gathering the recent data, but that the upcoming James Webb Telescope will build off its achievements when construction is completed in 2018.
Space Telescope Scientist Anton Koekemoer explains, "Our work indicates there is a rich field of even earlier galaxies that Webb will be able to Study."
The Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, and is expected to last until 2020, according to Computer World.
NASA's Malcolm Niedner adds, "Before the first servicing mission back in 1993, no one knew if this vision could work out. The scale of this technical operation in space - we just had no idea if it was possible. There was so much really technical work to be done. It was just a whole new realm of difficulty."
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