Lux et Veritas
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The Keck II telescope and operator, Tommy Nosferatu.
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Telescope Gives Deepest View of Space
Associated Press 07.11.07, 9:46 PM ET
Astronomers believe they’ve glimpsed light from some of the universe’s first stars through the world’s largest telescope (Keck II) on the Big Island.
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A mosaic of six distant galaxies discovered by gravitational lensing is seen
in this handout picture released by the W.M. Keck Observatory on July 10, 2007.
Each image, obtained with the NIRSPEC instrument on the Keck II telescope,
(Reuters)
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The astronomy team from the California Institute of Technology, which was to present its findings in London on Wednesday, said they used the Keck II telescope atop Mauna Kea volcano to see farther into space than ever before.
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By magnifying the telescope’s range, the scientists said they were able to see light generated by galaxies 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only 500 million years old. At that time, the universe was still in its “Dark Ages” because hydrogen atoms hadn’t broken apart and stars hadn’t yet formed.
“We have detected six faint star-forming galaxies,” said graduate student Dan Stark. “We estimate the combined radiation output of this population could be sufficient to break apart the hydrogen atoms in space at that time, thereby ending the Dark Ages.”
The astronomers said they were able to push the telescope to its limits by using a gravitational lens.
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Images: (Keck) llnl.gov; (Nosferatu) altfq.com;(Conan) cinemablend.com; (hydrogen) C. Max, G. Canalizo, and W. de Vries via eurkealert.com; (#1) + (#2) + (#5) via entertainmentopia.com; (#3) + (#4) historychannel via history.com; (SpinalTap) via filmdailies.com