Major success in space research! Indian astronomers discover one of farthest star galaxies in universe

New Delhi, September 02: Indian Satellite AstroSat marks a major breakthrough as Indian astronomers have achieved historic landmark Space missions by discovering one of the farthest Star galaxies in the universe. It is estimated to be located 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr. Jitendra Singh shared this information on social media.

 

 

While speaking about the achievement he said, it is a matter of pride that India’s first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory "AstroSat" has detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. Dr. Jitendra Singh congratulated India’s Space Scientists for once again proving to the world that India’s capability in Space technology has risen to a distinguished level.

 

 

A team of Astronomers led by Dr. Kanak Saha from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics(IUCAA) Pune discovered the galaxy. The galaxy is called AUDFs01. The importance and uniqueness of this original discovery can be made out from the fact that it has been reported in the leading international journal “Nature Astronomy” published from Britain. India's AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than one on the Hubble Space Telescope of US-based NASA.

 

As per Professor ShyamTandon, the excellent spatial resolution and high sensitivity is a tribute to the hard work of the UVIT core team of scientists for over a decade. According to the Director of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) Dr. Somak Ray Chaudhury, this discovery is a very important clue to how the dark ages of the Universe ended and there was light in the Universe. We need to know when this started, but it has been very hard to find the earliest sources of light, he said.

Moreover, the US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has congratulated Indian astronomers on their exciting discovery. India’s first Space Observatory AstroSat, which has made this discovery, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on September 28, 2015. It was developed by a team led by ShyamTandon, Ex Emeritus Professor, IUCAA with the full support of ISRO.