A spectrometer designed by astronomers at the University of California (USA) will allow scientists to study the first galaxies that formed in the Universe.
This kind of time machine is called MOSFIRE and it is capable of condensing light into infrared wavelengths, allowing it to pass through cosmic dust and see very distant objects. “When we observe very distant galaxies, we do not see them as they are now, but as they were when the light left them. That light is what is now coming here,” explains Ian S. McLean, director of the project. ” Some of the galaxies that we are studying formed 10 billion years ago. We are looking back in time, towards the era of the formation of the first galaxies, some of them very small and remote. This is the era we must study. if we want to understand the structure of the Universe on a large scale “, indicates the researcher.
MOSFIRE has been installed on the KecK I telescope at the WM Keck Observatory in Manua Kea (Hawaii). The instrument will also be used to obtain detailed information on other aspects such as the formation of the stars in our own galaxy or the distribution of dark matter in the Universe.
