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Interferometer Spots Galaxy at 40M Lightyears

Posted by michael on from the i-spy dept.

techno-vampire writes "JPL announces that a pair of telescopes used as an optical interferometer have detected a galaxy 40 million light years away, smashing the previous record of 3,000 light years. This feat, using infrared, has given us a far more detailed look into the center of a galaxy, and opened up a whole new field of research."

2 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. The Devil's in the DETAILS by Makoss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To hopefully help quell the rush of prople who don't RTFA. Because the post is a bit. . .misleading.

    "NGC 4151 is 40 million light years from Earth, far beyond the most distant object previously detected by this type of telescope system, which was about 3,000 light years from Earth."

    "this type of telescope system"

    They are refering SPECIFICALLY to the technique used to image this. NOT 'most distant object imaged'.

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  2. ?!? That ain't right. by voisine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Our own milky way is about 100,000 light years across, so
    that 3,000 light year number is at least a few orders of
    magnitude off. WTF?