Gemini Confirms Spiral Nature of Extremely Distant Lensed Galaxy

The massive galaxy cluster bends the light of the most ancient spiral galaxy behind it, producing two highly magnified images that allow astronomers to study the spiral structures in great details. Image credit: James Josephides.

Gemini Observatory, using the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i, has confirmed the spiral nature of what is now the most distant known spiral galaxy. The galaxy's light, revealing how the galaxy looked some 11 billion years ago, is gravitationally lensed by a massive foreground cluster of galaxies to help reveal the distant pinwheel nature of the galaxy. See press release.