OUR COSMOS

Farthest known object detected

A team of astrophysicists have detected a tiny galaxy which lies roughly 13 billion light-years from Earth -- that is the farthest known object from Earth.
California Institute of Technology astronomers uncovered the faint galaxy using two of the most powerful telescopes -- one in space, the other in Hawaii -- aided by the natural magnification provided by a massive cluster of galaxies. The gravitational tug of the cluster, called Abell 2218, deflects the light of the distant galaxy and magnifies it many times over. The magnification process, first proposed by Albert Einstein and known as "gravitational lensing," produces double images of the galaxy.