Pune, August 10: A researcher from Pune has made a spectacular finding with the help of a Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Aayush Saxena from Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands along with his colleagues discovered 12 billion light-years, the most distant galaxy ever known. The GMRT is located in Khodad, 60 kms away from Pune and is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

The telescope is an array of 30 fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45m diameter. The newly discovered galaxy has been named TGSS1530. This galaxy dates back to the time when the universe was only 7% of the age it is today. The distance of this galaxy was measured with the help of Gemini North telescope in Hawaii and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. It is 12 billion years old. Talking about the discovery, Saxena told the press, "It is very surprising how these galaxies have built up their mass in such a short period of time."

Radio galaxies are rare in itself. They have a black hole in the centre that is formed due to gas and dust in the surroundings. Such findings are really important as they shed more light on the formation and evolution of galaxies. Another researcher from the observatory named Hubb Rottgering said "Bright radio galaxies harbour supermassive black holes. It is amazing to find such objects as early in the history of the universe; the time for these supermassive black holes to form and grow must have been very short." This finding is very surprising to the scientists.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 10, 2018 10:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).