Lyman break galaxy
Imagine that the universe is like a big treasure hunt, and we're looking for the most precious gems that we can find. One of the most special gems is something called a Lyman Break Galaxy. Now, you might be wondering what exactly that means.
Well, let's start by talking about light. Light is what we use to see things, and it's made up of different colors called wavelengths. Imagine a rainbow, with all the different colors shining in the sky. Each of those colors has a different wavelength.
Now, when we're looking for a Lyman Break Galaxy, we're looking for something that's really far away from us, in what's called the early universe. And because it's so far away, the light from that galaxy has to travel a really long distance to reach us. And on that journey, something very interesting happens.
As the light from the galaxy travels through space, it interacts with all kinds of things that are floating around out there. Specifically, it runs into a bunch of hydrogen gas. And when it does, something called the Lyman alpha line is created.
The Lyman alpha line is a special type of light that tells us something really important about the galaxy. It tells us how much hydrogen gas there is in the galaxy, which is a clue to understanding how it formed and evolved over time.
But here's the thing: when the Lyman alpha line is created, it gets absorbed by the hydrogen gas that it just interacted with. So by the time the light reaches us here on Earth, that line is missing from the spectrum of colors we see.
And that's where the Lyman Break Galaxy comes in. You see, in order to see that missing Lyman alpha line and get a full picture of the galaxy, we need to look for something called a "break" in the light spectrum. This break happens because all the Lyman alpha lines have been absorbed by the hydrogen gas, so there's a gap in the wavelengths that we can see.
When we see that break in the spectrum, we know we've found a Lyman Break Galaxy. And that means we've found something incredibly special, a gem from the early universe that can tell us all kinds of things about how the universe began and how it's grown over time.
Well, let's start by talking about light. Light is what we use to see things, and it's made up of different colors called wavelengths. Imagine a rainbow, with all the different colors shining in the sky. Each of those colors has a different wavelength.
Now, when we're looking for a Lyman Break Galaxy, we're looking for something that's really far away from us, in what's called the early universe. And because it's so far away, the light from that galaxy has to travel a really long distance to reach us. And on that journey, something very interesting happens.
As the light from the galaxy travels through space, it interacts with all kinds of things that are floating around out there. Specifically, it runs into a bunch of hydrogen gas. And when it does, something called the Lyman alpha line is created.
The Lyman alpha line is a special type of light that tells us something really important about the galaxy. It tells us how much hydrogen gas there is in the galaxy, which is a clue to understanding how it formed and evolved over time.
But here's the thing: when the Lyman alpha line is created, it gets absorbed by the hydrogen gas that it just interacted with. So by the time the light reaches us here on Earth, that line is missing from the spectrum of colors we see.
And that's where the Lyman Break Galaxy comes in. You see, in order to see that missing Lyman alpha line and get a full picture of the galaxy, we need to look for something called a "break" in the light spectrum. This break happens because all the Lyman alpha lines have been absorbed by the hydrogen gas, so there's a gap in the wavelengths that we can see.
When we see that break in the spectrum, we know we've found a Lyman Break Galaxy. And that means we've found something incredibly special, a gem from the early universe that can tell us all kinds of things about how the universe began and how it's grown over time.
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