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As a result, we can see objects located behind these galaxy clusters because the light from the objects, that would not otherwise reach Earth, is bent toward us by these clusters. Moreover, the object is magnified in the process, and the team used this to their advantage to estimate the galaxy’s distance, size, and behavior.

“This object is a unique example of what is suspected to be an abundant, underlying population of small and faint galaxies at about 500 million years after the Big Bang,” study researcher Adi Zitrin of the California Institute of Technology said in a statement.

“The discovery is telling us that galaxies as faint as this one exist, and we should continue looking for them and even fainter objects so that we can understand how galaxies, and the universe, have evolved over time,” Zitrin said.

The international team of astronomers who conducted the study estimate that this distant galaxy is about 850 light-years across. Our galaxy, the Milky Way is about 100 times longer.

Although the galaxy is small, it’s actually cooking up stars at an impressive rate for its size. The Milky Way produces about one star every year. This galaxy produces one star every three years, but for a galaxy that is 100 times smaller, that is extremely efficient, the team said.

Measuring the star formation rate in these very distant galaxies is important for figuring out why we see what we do in the universe. For much of the first 100 million years of the lifetime of the universe, light from the first stars was constantly being absorbed by cold hydrogen gas permeating space. As a result, the universe was foggy.