The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a distant cosmic relic that could provide new insights into galaxy formation.
The Tucana Dwarf galaxy, situated about 3 million light-years from Earth at the edge of the Local Group—which includes our Milky Way—is characterized by its older stars. This suggests it might hold clues from the early universe, according to NASA.
“Having such pristine properties enables scientists to use the Tucana Dwarf as a cosmic fossil,” NASA officials noted in a statement released on August 23.
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Hubble’s latest image showcases the Tucana Dwarf galaxy, revealing a field of dim, ancient stars against the dark backdrop of space. This galaxy, known as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, is smaller and less luminous than many other dwarf galaxies, with sparse dust and an older stellar population.
The Tucana Dwarf galaxy is located approximately 3.6 million light-years from the center of the Local Group, making it distant from the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies. Researchers hypothesize that this galaxy may have been pushed to its remote position after a close encounter with the Andromeda galaxy about 11 billion years ago. The gravitational forces from this encounter could have propelled the Tucana Dwarf to its current location.
“Dwarf galaxies could be the early ingredients for larger galaxies, and with older stars residing in such an isolated environment, analyzing them can help trace galaxy formation back to the dawn of time,” said NASA officials.
Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 were used to observe the Tucana Dwarf galaxy. Studying this galaxy’s structure and stellar evolution will aid researchers in understanding the epoch of reionization, a period when the first stars and galaxies emerged billions of years ago.
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