Door Europese beurs ondersteunde Franse onderzoeker ontdekt melkweg op 13 miljard lichtjaar van aarde (en)

A team of astronomers led by Johan Richard, a 31-year-old French researcher supported by the EU Marie Curie fund, has discovered a galaxy 13 billion light years away from Earth. The discovery of the star formation, which was created 200 million years after the 'Big Bang', will help astronomers better understand the evolution of galaxies closer to the earth, which may have affected the planet's climate. It could also help solve the scientific mystery of how the hydrogen fog that filled the early Universe was cleared.

Richard started his research whilst a Marie Curie fellow at Durham University in the UK, in 2008-2010. The discovery of the galaxy was made at the Dark Cosmology Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, using the Hubble Space Telescope, a joint project between the European Space Agency i and NASA.

Dr Richard is now based at the Centre for Astronomy Research at the University of Lyon in France. The other members of his team were:

Dr Jean-Paul Kneib (FR), based at Marseille's Laboratoire d’Astrophysique

Dr Harald Ebeling (DE), University of Hawaii

Dr Daniel Stark (US), Cambridge University, UK

Dr Eiichi Egami (Japan), University of Arizona

Dr Andrew Fiedler (US), University of Arizona

Dr Richard said the Marie Curie funding was vital in setting him on the path to the discovery. "The Marie Curie Actions bring great opportunities for scientific independence - a must if we are looking for exciting discoveries to happen," he commented.

Androulla Vassiliou i, the European Commissioner responsible for the Marie Curie fund, said: "This discovery represents a milestone in modern astronomy research and once again demonstrates our commitment to supporting pioneering study and mobility among the best European and international scientists."