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based on illustration from J.P.Kneib, R. Ellis, and CaltechDigital Media Center

Schematic illustration of the "time machine" (VLT + Gravitational Telescope) used to detect the record-breaking galaxy in the early Universe.

The light rays originating from the galaxy IR 1916 (target 1) when the Universe was just 470 million years old (redshift z=10) are bent and magnified by the foreground galaxy cluster Abell 1835 situated at redshift 0.25 before reaching the telescope. Secondary images (other light ray) have not yet been detected. They are expected to be even fainter than the observed one!

The galaxies at redshift z~3 illustrate the populations of distant galaxies uncovered in the 1990's.

The last directly observable horizon in the past is the so-called "last scattering surface" 300'000 years after the Big Bang. It is observed as the Cosmic Microwave Background (the 3° Kelvin radiation).

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Illustration of the cosmic epochs from the Dark Ages, over "Cosmic Renaissance" to the Universe seen today.

The first stars formed in dark matter halos start to shine intense ultraviolet radiation which progressively ionises their surrounding. This gradually lifts the fog over the Universe -- the period known as "Cosmic renaissance" or re-ionisation.

Cosmic renaissance ends approximately 1 billion years after the Big Bang (redshift 6).

The galaxy Abell 1835 IR1916 just discovered is seen well during the Cosmic renaissance, when the Universe was just ~470 million years old.