Why is ASTROSAT's recent discovery so significant
Why is ASTROSAT's recent discovery so significant
ISRO's celestial telescope discovered a new distant galaxy about 9.7 billion light years away and which is also one of the farthest galaxies we have ever found. This discovery is very significant as it can help us understand how the universe began in more detail. It can also help us understand how galaxies formed in the early universe as well as the expansion of the universe. This galaxy is named as AUDFs01.
- What is Astrosat
- The Most recent discovery by ASTROSAT
- How does it help us
What is ASTROSAT :
ASTROSAT is India's space organization that is ISRO's first multi-wavelength telescope. This telescope was launched through India's PSLV -Xl carrier. PSLV stands for Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. This telescope was launched successfully by ISRO on 28th of September in 2015 with the main objective of studying varied wavelengths from different sources across the sky and to monitor them, to estimate the magnetic field of neutron stars, to understand the high energy processes taking place in different celestial objects like stars, black holes, and much more. Also, it was designed to help to study the periodicity of the recorded wavelengths.
Since then, ASTROSAT has recorded more than or close to 750 recordings of the wavelengths from the interstellar space. It has also recorded some of the very important happenings of the space like supernova blasts from distant ranges as well as massive coronal mass ejections from the core of our nearest star after sun, that is Proxima Centauri.This helps scientists in studying the varied occurrences of the universe.
This telescope is operated from earth, to be precise, from the ISRO centre at Bangalore, India. The telescope is completely operated from the land and sends the recorded observations to the ISRO centre from time to time. The angle at which it is pinpointed at, and other vital systems of the satellite are handled by the ground support, that is the scientists who monitor the ASTROSAT telescope.
Most recent finding :
The most recent finding done by ASTROSAT which was even acclaimed by the other space organizations of different countries and even acclaimed at the international level was the discovery of a distant galaxy. ASTROSAT detected the incoming wavelengths from this galaxy, monitored it and sent the data to the ISRO base in Bangalore. However, the intensity of this discovery is much high than any other discovery of any other distant galaxy.
The highlighted part is that this galaxy is the farthest we have ever spotted till date. The galaxy spotted by AstroSat is somewhere around 9.3 billion light years away. This means that the galaxy is so far from us that light ( the fastest thing known to us ) will also take 9.3 billion years to par the distance. Also from this discovery, Scientists around the world have come to a conclusion that this is one of the farthest galaxies we have ever spotted and is also one of the first galaxies to be formed after big bang. This galaxy is named as AUDFs01
The big bang happened approximately 3.7 billion years ago. At this time, a lot of light was also released with the burst. This light had then hit AUDFs01 and got reflected. This means that the galaxy should have formed by then and as light travels at extreme speed, we know that it wouldn't have taken long before it reached the galaxy. And so we can conclude that it was one of the earliest galaxies to be formed, as if it wasn't formed till then, then light wouldn't be able to reflect back.
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How does it help us :
This great discovery can be of real use to space scientists and cosmologists to predict happenings which took place just after the big bang and also help us learn better about the shaping and creation of our galaxy and others as well. This can be very important discovery as it may help us understand the rate at which galaxies can form, but as we haven't yet observed any galaxy form, it would be a piece of completely new knowledge to the human race.
Also, this galaxy is one of the farthest from us, so it may also help scientists figure out the expansion of our universe, and also help them estimate the observable universe from our perspectives. The observable universe is only a part of universe that we can observe. As and when the light or wavelengths of further galaxies reach us, they are recorded and the limit till which we can observe the universe increases. So the universe is vast but we can only view the part of it which has reflected light back towards us. And as mentioned above, this galaxy is one of the furthest observed to date. So this can help expand the observable universe.
For reference, in the below image, the continually expanding universe is shown with arrows, while the observable universe for us, that is the small part of universe which we can observe is represented by the oval.
If you are interested in knowing as to how the light gets reflected and we can measure it, then I suggest you read this article which gives you a simple yet in detail information about the same topic. The information provided above is a brief idea of what the discovery is and why it is so significant. If you want more accurate information then do check out this post written by me which will explain you the basic science behind this discovery.
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