The work focused on a particular radiation emitted by distant galaxies, where their mass seems to play an important role. “We discovered that the more stars a galaxy has, the fainter its Lyman Alpha emission is. This kind of radiation is related to hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe”, explains Grecco Oyarzun, Master of Astronomy student at DAS and first author on the paper.

For Guillermo Blanc, faculty at DAS, CATA researcher, and co-author of the publication, this emission "is produced in regions where stars are actively being formed, and it is the main form light is used for detecting and studying young galaxies during the early epoch of the universe. Before this work, galaxy samples that were studied ignored the effect of stellar mass. Thanks to our findings, this effect should start to be considered”.

In order to perform this investigation, 20 hours of observation, that took place during December 2014 and February 2015, were needed. “We worked 6 months preparing the observations, 6 months on calibrations, and another 6 months on the analysis” explains the young scientist, adding that they used the instrument M2FS (Michigan/Magellan Fiber System) operated in the 6.5 meter Clay telescope in Las Campanas Observatory (Carnegie), located on the Atacama desert.

The next step of the investigation is “studying the dependence of this emission with respect to other galaxy properties, such as the amount of gas they have and the rate at which they form new stars”. For now, Oyarzún is preparing himself to finish his Master degree and leave for his PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz in August, 2016.

To check the investigation, check the website of The Astrophysical Journal in the following link: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/821/1/L14