INDIA’S ASTROSAT TELESCOPE DISCOVERS AN ANCIENT GALAXY 9.3 BILLION LIGHT-YEARS AWAY: It could help to explain the origin of light after Big Bang

Scientists from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune has recently discovered one of the ancient galaxies in the universe. This galaxy called AUDFs01 is situated about 9.3 billion light-years away from our planet. AstroSat, India's first multi-wavelength satellite revealed this breakthrough discovery, published on Monday.

Representative Image of a Galaxy (ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko, R. Jansen)

AstroSat was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 28th September 2015. The satellite, developed by several research institutions from India and Canada, has the specialty to investigate simultaneously the celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands. The satellite has 5 payloads that support to capture the Ultra Violate light coming from celestial bodies, and using these unique features, recently detected an extreme-ultraviolet light coming from the AUDFs01 galaxy. This invention is assumed to assist our knowledge of the earliest source of light in the universe.

Significance of the discovery

The scientists have perceived from this study that this discovery is significant in terms of enhancing our understanding regarding the formation of ancient galaxies in the universe which is only observable in extreme UV wavelengths. This understanding may help us to study the formation and conditions of initial stars and galaxies and how the first light or radiation began from Cosmic Dark Age in the early universe just after the Big Bang.

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