Hasta La Gadget!

A group of astronomers from the US and Europe believe that they have located the oldest galaxy ever discovered, with the help of the Hubble Telescope. The scientists believe the galaxy to be 13.2 billion years old, created when the universe was a mere 480 million years old.

The scientists say the universe was in “overdrive” mode during that period, rapidly forming galaxies and stars. “We’re peering into an era where big changes are afoot,” researcher Garth Illingworth UC Santa Cruz told the press. “The rapid rate at which the star birth is changing tells us if we go a little further back in time we’re going to see even more dramatic changes, closer to when the first galaxies were just starting to form.”

Richard Bouwens of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands added, “We’re seeing these galaxies–“star cities”–that are building themselves up over cosmic time.”

Bowens said that the team is “pretty confident” that it has discovered the oldest galaxy, but that the findings have yet to be verified. If it is indeed as old as suspected, the galaxy will give scientists new insight into the formation of the universe.