ESOcast 157 Light: Ancient Galaxy Pileups (4K UHD)

The ALMA and APEX telescopes have peered deep into space — back to the time when the Universe was one tenth of its current age — and witnessed the beginnings of gargantuan cosmic pileups: the impending collisions of young, starburst galaxies. Astronomers thought that these events occurred around three billion years after the Big Bang, so they were surprised when the new observations revealed them happening when the Universe was only half that age! These ancient systems of galaxies are thought to be building the most massive structures in the known Universe: galaxy clusters.

The video is available in 4K UHD.

The ESOcast Light is a series of short videos bringing you the wonders of the Universe in bite-sized pieces. The ESOcast Light episodes will not be replacing the standard, longer ESOcasts, but complement them with current astronomy news and images in ESO press releases.

Credit:

ESO

Editing: Nico Bartmann.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Calum Turner and Richard Hook.
Music: Written and performed by Stan Dart (www.stan-dart.com).Footage and photos: ESO, M. Kornmesser, ESA/Hubble, A. Fujii, D. Malin Images, DSS, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Miller et al.
Directed by: Nico Bartmann.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

Usage of ESO Images, Videos, Web texts and Music