A1689-zD1

Not to be confused with Abell 1689.

A1689-zD1
Observation data
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	13h 11m 29.9s
Declination	−01° 19′ 19″
Redshift	7.6
Distance	13 billion light-years (light travel distance)
Group or cluster	Abell 1689
Mass	1.7×109 M☉
Other designations
BBF2008 A1689-zD1

A1689-zD1 was a candidate for the most distant and therefore earliest observed galaxy discovered as of February 2008, based on a photometric redshift.

If the redshift, z~7.6, is correct, it would explain why the galaxy's faint light reaches us at infrared wavelengths. It could only be observed with Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera exploiting the natural phenomenon of gravitational lensing: The galaxy cluster Abell 1689, which lies between Earth and A1689-zD1, at a distance of 2.2 billion light-years from us, functions as a natural "magnifying glass" for the light from the far more distant galaxy which lies directly behind it, at 700 million years after the Big Bang, as seen from Earth.

See also

• IOK-1
• UDFy-38135539
• List of the most distant astronomical objects