Cosmic Zoom Lens?

Talking about pushing the envelope, this story is incredible. The European space agency launched the Far Infrared and Sub-millimeter Telescope (FIRST) in May of 2009. This space telescope was later renamed to Herschel after the incredible female astronomer Caroline Herschel who did some amazing research in the late 1700 and early 1800. Herschel is the largest single mirror space telescope ever built to look deep into the past.

So, here we have one of the most powerful space telescopes ever built, gathering long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the universe. But that is not enough; using something called a gravity lens Herschel is able to detect a Galaxy that is 11 billion light years away.

First, here is an example how a gravity lens works:




 

By observing a distant Galaxy cluster Herschel was able to detect a Galaxy that is even further away. The telescope observed a Galaxy that emitted its radiation over 11 billion years ago. Thinking about this for just a minute, I have the following question: What does that Galaxy look like today? Does it still exist? If the Galaxy does still exist, where could it be? Apparently our Galaxy, the Milky Way is about 8.8 billion years old, plus or minus 1.7 billion year. (This is according to Wiki, I know… but Wiki is good enough for this thought experiment!) Assuming the oldest possible age of the Milky Way, 10.5 billion years, is it possible we are looking at baby picture of our Galaxy? Given the fact that there are 100 billion other Galaxies out there it is highly unlikely that this specific Galaxy is the baby Milky Way, but the question is still valid, could we see a picture of a baby Milky Way? We know that space is not flat; space is curved so… naw… that is just too wired.

Bottom line still is, it is amazing that we are able to observe a Galaxy that is some 11 billion light years away from us. What is even more amazing is the technique used to make that observation.