:GN-z11
{{short description|High-redshift galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major}}
{{Infobox galaxy
| name = GN-z11
| image = Distant galaxy GN-z11 in GOODS-N image by HST.jpg
| caption = GN-z11 superimposed on an image from the GOODS-North survey
| pronounce =
| constellation name = Ursa Major{{cite web |url=http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/07/fastfacts/ |title=Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record - Fast Facts |id=STScI-2016-07 |work=HubbleSite |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706052008/http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/07/fastfacts/ |archive-date=6 July 2016}}
| epoch = J2000
| h_radial_v = {{convert|295050|±|119917|km/s|abbr=on}}{{cite simbad |title=[BIG2010] GNS-JD2 |access-date=13 February 2017}}
| gal_v =
| dist_ly = {{plainlist|
- {{convert|32|e9ly|e9pc|lk=on|abbr=unit}}
{{in5|3}}(present proper distance) - {{nowrap|{{convert|13.4|e9ly|e9pc|abbr=unit}}}}
{{in5|3}}(light-travel distance)
}}
| group_cluster =
| type = Irregular
| mass_light_ratio =
| size = {{convert|4000|±|2000|ly|pc|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}
| stars =
| appmag_v = 25.8H
| appmag_b =
| absmag_v =
| size_v = 0.6arcsec
| notes =
| references =
}}
GN-z11 is a high-redshift galaxy found in the constellation Ursa Major. It is among the farthest known galaxies from Earth ever discovered.{{Cite news |url=https://www.space.com/oldest-most-distant-galaxy-discovery |title=Scientists think they've spotted the farthest galaxy in the universe |work=Space.com |first=Chelsea |last=Gohd |date=21 December 2020 |access-date=10 November 2022}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/scientists-have-spotted-farthest-galaxy-ever |title=Scientists Have Spotted the Farthest Galaxy Ever |publisher=Center for Astrophysics |first1=Mariclaire |last1=O'Neill |first2=Nadia |last2=Whitehead |date=7 April 2022 |access-date=10 November 2022}} The 2015 discovery was published in a 2016 paper headed by Pascal Oesch and Gabriel Brammer (Cosmic Dawn Center). Up until the discovery of JADES-GS-z13-0 in 2022 by the James Webb Space Telescope, GN-z11 was the oldest and most distant known galaxy yet identified in the observable universe,{{cite news |url=https://www.seeker.com/hubble-spies-most-distant-oldest-galaxy-ever-1770971428.html |title=Hubble Spies Most Distant, Oldest Galaxy Ever |work=Seeker |publisher=Discovery, Inc. |first=Irene |last=Klotz |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=5 February 2020}} having a spectroscopic redshift of {{nowrap|1=z = 10.957}}, which corresponds to a proper distance of approximately {{convert|32|e9ly|e9pc|lk=on|abbr=off}}.{{cite journal|title=Evidence for GN-z11 as a luminous galaxy at redshift 11|display-authors=etal|first1=Linhua|last1=Jiang|journal=Nature Astronomy|date=January 2021|volume=5|pages=256–261|doi=10.1038/s41550-020-01275-y|arxiv=2012.06936|bibcode=2021NatAs...5..256J|s2cid=229156468 }}At first glance, the distance of {{convert|32|e9ly|e9pc|lk=on|abbr=off}} might seem impossibly far away in a Universe that is only 13.8 billion (short scale) years old, where a light-year is the distance light travels in a year, and where nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. However, because of the expansion of the universe, the distance of 2.66 billion light-years between GN-z11 and the Milky Way at the time when the light was emitted increased by a factor of (z+1)=12.1 to a distance of 32 billion light-years during the 13.4 billion years it has taken the light to reach us. See: Size of the observable universe, Misconceptions about the size of the observable universe, Measuring distances in expanding space, and Ant on a rubber rope. Data published in 2024 established that the galaxy contains the most distant, and therefore earliest, black hole known in the universe,{{cite web|website=Space.com|title=James Webb Space Telescope discovers oldest and most distant black hole ever seen|author=Robert Lea|date=January 17, 2024|url=https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-oldest-black-hole}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Telegraph|title=Oldest black hole ever seen challenges what we know about their formation|author=Joe Pinkstone|date=January 17, 2024|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/17/oldest-black-hole-challenges-formation-nasa-cambridge-bang/}} estimated at around 1.6 million solar masses.{{cite journal|last1=Maiolino|first1=Roberto|last2=Scholtz|first2=Jan|last3=Witstok|first3=Joris|last4=Carniani|first4=Stefano|last5=D'Eugenio|first5=Francesco|last6=de Graaff|first6=Anna|last7=Übler|first7=Hannah|last8=Tacchella|first8=Sandro|last9=Curtis-Lake|first9=Emma|last10=Arribas|first10=Santiago|last11=Bunker|first11=Andrew|last12=Charlot|first12=Stéphane|last13=Chevallard|first13=Jacopo|last14=Curti|first14=Mirko|last15=Looser|first15=Tobias J.|last16=Maseda|first16=Michael V.|last17=Rawle|first17=Timothy D.|last18=Rodríguez del Pino|first18=Bruno|last19=Willott|first19=Chris J.|last20=Egami|first20=Eiichi|last21=Eisenstein|first21=Daniel J.|last22=Hainline|first22=Kevin N.|last23=Robertson|first23=Brant|last24=Williams|first24=Christina C.|last25=Willmer|first25=Christopher N. A.|last26=Baker|first26=William M.|last27=Boyett|first27=Kristan|last28=DeCoursey|first28=Christa|last29=Fabian|first29=Andrew C.|last30=Helton|first30=Jakob M.|last31=Ji|first31=Zhiyuan|last32=Jones|first32=Gareth C.|last33=Kumari|first33=Nimisha|last34=Laporte|first34=Nicolas|last35=Nelson|first35=Erica J.|last36=Perna|first36=Michele|last37=Sandles|first37=Lester|last38=Shivaei|first38=Irene|last39=Sun|first39=Fengwu|date=17 January 2024|title=A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07052-5|journal=Nature|volume=627 |issue=8002 |pages=59–63 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07052-5|pmid=38232944 |accessdate=4 March 2024|arxiv=2305.12492|bibcode=2024Natur.627...59M }}
The object's name is derived from its location in the GOODS-North field of galaxies and its high cosmological redshift number {{nowrap|1=(GN + z11)}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-team-breaks-cosmic-distance-record/ |title=Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record |publisher=NASA |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=10 March 2016}} It is observed as it existed 13.4 billion years ago, just 400 million years after the Big Bang;{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35721734 |title=Hubble sets new cosmic distance record |work=BBC News |first=Jonathan |last=Amos |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=3 March 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/most-distant-object-in-the-universe-spotted-by-hubble-space-telescope-shattering-record-for-the-a6911096.html |title=Most distant object in the universe spotted by Hubble Space Telescope, shattering record for the farthest known galaxy |work=The Independent |first=Andrew |last=Griffin |date=4 March 2016 |access-date=17 December 2017}} as a result, its distance is sometimes inappropriately{{cite web |url=http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/Dltt_is_Dumb.html |title=Why the Light Travel Time Distance should not be used in Press Releases |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |first=Edward L. |last=Wright |date=2 August 2013 |access-date=10 March 2016}} reported as 13.4 billion light-years, its light-travel distance measurement.{{cite news |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6c9dcadf6d5f4741b010da09f5841b6f/astronomers-spot-record-distant-galaxy-early-cosmos |title=Astronomers Spot Record Distant Galaxy From Early Cosmos |agency=Associated Press |first=Seth |last=Borenstein |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=1 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306044212/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6c9dcadf6d5f4741b010da09f5841b6f/astronomers-spot-record-distant-galaxy-early-cosmos |archive-date=6 March 2016 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-04/hubble-space-telescope-observes-most-remote-galaxy-ever-seen/7219846 |title=GN-z11: Astronomers push Hubble Space Telescope to limits to observe most remote galaxy ever seen |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=10 March 2016}}
In early 2023, James Webb Space Telescope observed the galaxy and reported a definitive redshift of {{nowrap|1=z = 10.6034 ± 0.0013}}.
The galaxy has such a high redshift that its angular diameter distance is actually less than that of some galaxies with lower redshift. This means that the ratio of its angular size (how big it appears in the sky) to its size in light-years is greater.
Discovery
The galaxy was identified by a team studying data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and Spitzer Space Telescope's Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North (GOODS-North).{{cite web |url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1604/ |title=Hubble breaks cosmic distance record |website=SpaceTelescope.org |id=heic1604 |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=3 March 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/07/full/ |title=Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record |website=HubbleSite.org |id=STScI-2016-07 |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=3 March 2016}} The research team used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to measure the distance to GN-z11 spectroscopically, measuring the redshift caused by the expansion of the universe.{{Cite web |url=http://news.yale.edu/2016/03/03/shattering-cosmic-distance-record-once-again |title=Shattering the cosmic distance record, once again |publisher=Yale University |first=Jim |last=Shelton |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=4 March 2016}} The findings, which were announced in March 2016, revealed the galaxy to be farther away than originally thought, at the distance limit of what the Hubble Telescope can observe. GN-z11 is around 150 million years older than the previous record-holder EGSY8p7, and is observed (shortly after but) "very close to the end of the so-called Dark Ages of the universe", and (during but) "near the very beginning" of the reionization era.
Compared with the Milky Way galaxy, GN-z11 is {{frac|1|25}} of the size, has 1% of the mass, and is forming new stars approximately twenty times as fast. With a stellar age estimated at 40 million years, it appears the galaxy formed its stars relatively rapidly.{{cite journal |title=A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at z=11.1 Measured with Hubble Space Telescope Grism Spectroscopy |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |first1=P. A. |last1=Oesch |first2=G. |last2=Brammer |first3=P. |last3=van Dokkum |display-authors=etal |volume=819 |issue=2 |at=129 |date=March 2016 |arxiv=1603.00461 |bibcode=2016ApJ...819..129O |doi=10.3847/0004-637X/819/2/129|s2cid=119262750 |doi-access=free }} The fact that a galaxy so massive existed so soon after the first stars started to form is a challenge to some current theoretical models of the formation of galaxies.
{{clear left}}
{{multiple image |direction=horizontal |align=center |total_width=800
|image1=GNz11-FarthestGalaxyObservedByTheHST-20160303.webm |caption1=Animation showing the location of GN-z11
|image2=GNz11-FarthestGalaxyObservedByTheHST-20160303.jpg |caption2=Hubble spectroscopically confirms farthest galaxy to date
}}
See also
Notes
{{Reflist|1|group="note"}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Commons category|GN-z11}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Most distant known astronomical object|years=2016–2022}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Most distant known galaxy|years=2016–2022}}
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{{Galaxy}}
{{2016 in space}}