Abell 1835 IR1916 (also known as Abell 1835, Galaxy Abell 1835, Galaxy Abell 1835 IR1916, or simply The Abell) was a candidate for being the most distant

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

ever observed, although that claim has not been verified by additional observations. It was claimed to lie behind the

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-l ...

Abell 1835 Abell 1835 is a galaxy cluster in the Abell catalogue. It is a cluster that also gravitational lenses more-distant background galaxies to make them visible to astronomers. The cluster has a red shift of around 75,900 km/ s and spans 12. In ...

, in the Virgo constellation.

Initial observation

Abell 1835 was discovered by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

astronomers of the

European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 mem ...

, namely Roser Pelló, Johan Richard, Jean-François Le Borgne, Daniel Schaerer, and Jean-Paul Kneib. The astronomers used a

near-infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...

instrument on the

Very Large Telescope The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across, ...

to detect the galaxy; other

observatories An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

were then used to make an image of it possible. The Observatory, in conjunction with the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: ''Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung'', SNF; French: ''Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique'', FNS; Italian: ''Fondo nazionale svizzero ...

, the

French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

, and the journal ''

Astronomy and Astrophysics ''Astronomy & Astrophysics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering theoretical, observational, and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics. The journal is run by a Board of Directors representing 27 sponsoring countries plus a re ...

'', issued a

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

on 1 March 2004 announcing the discovery. It was believed to be more distant than the galaxy lensed by

Abell 2218 Abell 2218 is a large cluster of galaxies over 2 billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. Acting as a powerful lens, it magnifies and distorts all galaxies lying behind the cluster core into long arcs. The lensed galaxies are al ...

Age and distance

The initial observer's analysis of J-band observations indicated that Abell 1835 IR1916 has a

redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in f ...

factor of z~10.0, meaning that it appears to us as it was about 13.2 billion years ago, only 470 million years after the

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

and very close to the first burst of star formation in the universe. This redshift also implies a

comoving distance In standard cosmology, comoving distance and proper distance are two closely related distance measures used by cosmologists to define distances between objects. ''Proper distance'' roughly corresponds to where a distant object would be at a spec ...

from the earth of about 13.2 billion light years. Its visibility at such a great distance was credited to

gravitational lens A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies) between a distant light source and an observer that is capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels toward the observer. This effect is known ...

ing by the galaxy cluster

between it and us. Further analysis of the data that led to the first announcement has cast doubt on the claim that it is a distant object, and follow-up observations in the H-band using the

Gemini North Telescope The Gemini Observatory is an astronomical observatory consisting of two 8.1-metre (26.6 ft) telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South, which are located at two separate sites in Hawaii and Chile, respectively. The twin Gemini telescopes prov ...

and observations from the orbiting

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. Operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, f ...

Smith ''et al.'' (2006) were not able to detect it at all, the latter regarding it to be an artefact.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abell 1835 IR1916 Galaxies Dwarf galaxies Virgo (constellation) de:Abell 1835 IR1916

Initial observation

Age and distance

See also

Notes

References