Cosmic Telescope In Aussie Research Gives Insight Into Early Galaxies

Researchers from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology have managed to capture the first in-depth images of enormous gas clouds with help from a naturally occurring galactic phenomenon

SYDNEY, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th May, 2022 ) --:Researchers from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology have managed to capture the first in-depth images of enormous gas clouds with help from a naturally occurring galactic phenomenon.

The study, published in the Nature journal and released to the public on Thursday, detailed the observations of the inner workings of a Damped Lyman-a system (DLA), a giant gas cloud that gave rise to galaxies not long after the Big Bang.

"DLAs are crucial in understanding how galaxies were formed, but have traditionally been extremely difficult to observe," said Swinburne University of Technology professor and contributing author Jeff Cooke.

The researchers were able to take advantage of gravitationally lensed galaxies, a phenomenon by which galaxies are stretched and brightened, which illuminated the normally dark DLA.

DLA's hold particular significance as they contain most of the neutral hydrogen in the universe, a "building block" element and also the universe's most abundant -- containing just one proton and one electron.