Distant Galaxy EGS-zs8-1 in CANDELS Field

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the farthest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy observed to date (inset). It was identified in this Hubble image of a field of galaxies in the CANDELS survey (Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope also observed the unique galaxy. The W. M. Keck Observatory was used to obtain a spectroscopic redshift (z=7.7), extending the previous redshift record. Measurements of the stretching of light, or redshift, give the most reliable distances to other galaxies. This source is thus currently the most distant confirmed galaxy known, and it appears to also be one of the brightest and most massive sources at that time. The galaxy existed over 13 billion years ago. The near-infrared image of the galaxy (inset) has been colored blue as suggestive of its young, and hence very blue, stars. The CANDELS field is a combination of visible-light and near-infrared exposures.

About the colours

These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and the WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Background Image Blue: (V) Green: (J) Red: (H) Inset Image Blue: F160W (H)

About the data

Data of EGS-zs8-1 were obtained from the HST proposals 12060 , 12061 , 12062 , 12063 , 12064 , 12440 , 12442 , 12443 , 12444 , 12445 , 13056 PIs: S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz) and H. Ferguson (STScI) and 13792 , PI: R. Bouwens (University of Leiden).

The science team comprises: P. Oesch and P. van Dokkum (Yale University), G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory), R.J. Bouwens (Leiden Observatory), I. Momcheva (Yale University), B. Holden (UCO/Lick Observatory), G. Roberts-Borsani (Leiden Observatory), R. Smit (Durham University, UK), M. Franx and I. Labbe (Leiden Observatory), V. Gonzalez (University of California, Riverside), and D. Magee (UCO/Lick Observatory).