Scientists have found the most distant thing ever – and we might know what it is

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Researchers propose two ideas, with the first being that HD1 may be forming stars at an astounding rate and is possibly even home to the universe’s very first stars known as Population III stars - which have never been observed. “HD1’s red colour matched the expected characteristics of a galaxy 13.5 billion light-years away surprisingly well, giving me a little bit of goose bumps when I found it.” Fabio Pacucci, lead author of the MNRAS study, co-author in the discovery paper, and an astronomer at the Centre for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, said: “Answering questions about the nature of a source so far away can be challenging. “In fact, Population III stars are capable of producing more UV light than normal stars, which could clarify the extreme ultraviolet luminosity of HD1.” But a supermassive black hole could also explain the extreme brightness of HD1. Avi Loeb, an astronomer at the Centre for Astrophysics and co-author on the MNRAS study, said: “HD1 would represent a giant baby in the delivery room of the early universe.” HD1 was discovered after more than 1,200 hours of observing time with the Subaru Telescope, Vista Telescope, UK Infrared Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.