The spiral galaxy could provide insights into the early cosmos, believe scientists.
The galaxy, known as A1689B11, existed just 2.6 billion years after the Big Bang when the universe was only one-fifth of its present age.
Researchers used a powerful technique that combines gravitational lensing with the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) on the Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i to verify the vintage and spiral nature of the galaxy.
Gravitational lenses are nature’s largest telescopes, created by massive clusters composed of thousands of galaxies and dark matter.
The cluster bends and magnifies the light of galaxies behind it in a manner similar to an ordinary lens, but on a much larger scale.