I movimenti delle prime galassie dell'universo, vecchie di 13 miliardi di anni, erano molto più ordinati di quanto si pensasse finora. Lo ha scoperto un gruppo internazionale di astronomi a cui partecipa l'Università di Ginevra (UNIGE).
I risultati dello studio, pubblicati dalla rivista scientifica Nature, aprono una porta sulla ricerca che riguarda la formazione e l'evoluzione delle galassie durante il primo miliardo di anni dopo la nascita dell'Universo, un periodo ancora mal conosciuto, indica un comunicato di UNIGE. Il team internazionale di astronomi, diretto dall'Università di Cambridge e di cui fa parte l'ateneo ginevrino, è riuscita per la primo volta a misurare i movimenti delle cosiddette "baby galassie", formatesi poco dopo il Big Bang, molto lontane dalla terra e ancora molto misteriose.
La scoperta lascia supporre che il gas contenuto in queste galassie primordiali già girasse attorno a un perno, come in quelle "adulte" nate dalla loro fusione e dalla loro crescita, spiega l'UNIGE. Per osservare due piccole galassie nate solamente 800 milioni di anni dopo il Big Bang, ossia quasi 13 miliardi di anni fa, gli astronomi si sono avvalsi delle 66 antenne del radio telescopio ALMA, (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) situato a circa 5'000 metri di quota sull'altopiano di Chajnantor nelle Ande cilene.
ATS/Swing
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