Farthest Galaxy

With the aid of the 200inch telescope, Rudolph Minkowski of the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories has photographed a spot of light that appears to originate six billion years from the earth, and thus represents by far the most distant celestial object yet detected. Thought to be either a single galaxy or two galaxies in collision, the object exhibits a red-shift indicating that it is receding from the earth at a velocity of 90,000 miles per second—almost half the speed of light.

According to the evolutionary, or "big-bang" hypothesis, the universe originated in a vast explosion six to 12 billion years ago. Thus the light now recorded by Minkowski may have started near the "beginning of time."