ESOcast 22: The most distant galaxy ever measured

A European team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far. By carefully analysing the very faint glow of the galaxy they have found that they are seeing it when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6). These are the first confirmed observations of a galaxy whose light is clearing the opaque hydrogen fog that filled the cosmos at this early time.
Credit:
ESO. Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Richard Hook and Douglas Pierce-Price. Narration: Dr. J. Music: movetwo. Footage and photos: ESO, NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team, A. M. Swinbank and S. Zieleniewski, M. Alvarez (www.cita.utoron..., R. Kaehler and T. Abel and José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org). Directed by: Herbert Zodet. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

[@YonOtto]

Purely mind boggling stuff!

[@amarmirza08]

yes he is correct. that is the best estimate today of the observable universe (not the entire universe but the observable universe). remember that space is expanding and doing so at an ever increasing rate. cheers.

[@MAStudio64]

I wish we people,have a 100 times bigger telescope,(insted of:.weapon,etc....)
so we can see 100 times more far,or 200!
if i have bigger binoculars i be able to see light from next town,but..
Thanks ESOobservatory!

[@amarmirza08]

You can see the "flash from the big bang". After the big bang the universe was very dense and hot, so it was opaque (you couldn't see through it cause everything was too hot and close together making this plasma like stuff). A while later the universe finally cooled enough for matter to condense and become transparent. That means if you look further back you will see the surface of that dense young universe. We have a picture of it called the Cosmic Microwave Background. Search google images. :)

[@amarmirza08]

We are at the center of the Observable universe, there is no such thing as the center of the universe. Since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, we can never observe anything that is so far away that the space between us and it is expanding faster than the speed of light. Remember that all space is expanding equally so the further away something is, the faster it is moving away. Hope this answers your question (great questions too)