Cosmology - Old Galaxies defy predictions
Astronomers and Cosmologists continue to be suprised by new observations. The latest is finding 'old galaxies' when the universe was only '2.5 billion' years old. Apparently, galaxies that big and well developed shouldn't have been around back then.

Of course, I doubt they will rethink their basic assumptions about the age of the universe or the creation of the universe...

In addition to the old "dead” galaxies long past star formation, there were other red, dusty galaxies still vigorously producing stars. Jiasheng Huang (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) said, "We're detecting galaxies we never expected to find, having a wide range of properties we never expected to see." Apparently, the early universe was already a wildly complex place. "It's becoming more and more clear that the young universe was a big zoo with animals of all sorts," continued Labbé. "There's as much variety in the early universe as we see around us today."

Re-read that last quote...
There is as much variety in the early universe as we see around us now....
Couldn't agree more!
- posted by Alan Grey @ Thursday, March 24, 2005