An international team of astronomers have reported the discovery of a galaxy which gives the earliest glimpse of the epoch when galaxies and stars first formed in the universe. Observations from Keck I Telescope and Subaru Telescope, both on Mauna Kea of the Big Island of Hawaii, show that the galaxy was rapidly forming stars at a time when the universe was only 1/20th of its present age. The fact that astronomers could see this galaxy at all means that there had been a significant amount of star formation in the universe by that time.

Researchers from the University of Hawaii led the team. Further details on this research can be found on their web site.

Original Press Release:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~cowie/z6/z6_press.html

Images:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~cowie/z6/pict.html

University of Hawaii Web Page on Distant Galaxy Searches:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~cowie/z6/z6.html