Article Posted on : - Nov 09, 2010

A file photo.

NOTTINGHAM, UK (BNS): Astronomers have discovered a new way of locating a natural phenomenon that acts like a zoom lens and allows to peer at galaxies in the distant and early Universe.

These results are from the very first data taken as part of the 'Herschel-ATLAS' (Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey) project, the largest imaging survey conducted so far with the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory.

"What we’ve seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. Wide area surveys are essential for finding these rare events and since Herschel has only covered one thirtieth of the entire Herschel-ATLAS area so far, we expect to discover hundreds of lenses once we have all the data. Once found, we can probe the early Universe on the same physical scales as we can in galaxies next door," Dr Loretta Dunne from the School of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Nottingham, was quoted as saying in the University news release.

Dr Dunne is also a joint-leader of the Herschel-ATLAS survey.

Cosmic zoom lenses, or 'gravitational' lenses, are natural phenomena that magnify images of distant galaxies so that astronomers can see otherwise hidden galaxies from when the Universe was only a few billion years old. This provides key insights into how galaxies have changed over the history of the cosmos.

The previous methods of searching for these gravitational lenses have been hit-and-miss.

But by using the Herschel telescope in space to search for far-infrared light sources emitted by gas and dust that formed a galaxy, the scientists have now been able to find more of the cosmic space lenses.

"We've discovered that these cosmic zoom lenses are at work in not just a few, but in all of the distant and bright galaxies seen by Herschel," added Dr Mattia Negrello from the Open University who is also the lead researcher of the study.

Herschel was launched in May 2009.

Herschel can detect bands of far-infrared and sub-millimeter wavelength light that are blocked by Earth's atmosphere, but ground-based observatories can measure even longer millimeter wavelengths that may reveal objects at even greater distances.