IOK-1: A Galaxy From Way, Way Back!

IOK-1 is a super-duper old galaxy, like a tiny speck of dust from the universe's baby days. It's so far away that when its light started traveling to us, Earth hadn't even been invented yet! Scientists found it using a giant telescope that's like a super-powered eye looking into space.

It’s in a part of the sky called Coma Berenices, which means 'Berenice's Hair' – a pretty name for a very old place!

This galaxy is ancient! It was seen as it was about 750 million years after the Big Bang, which is like the universe's birthday party. That means we are seeing IOK-1 as it looked over 12 billion years ago! To put that in perspective, dinosaurs lived about 66 million years ago, so IOK-1 is much, much older than even the biggest dinosaurs that ever stomped on Earth.

When scientists first found IOK-1 in 2006, it was the oldest and farthest galaxy anyone had ever seen! It was like finding a brand new dinosaur bone, but way, way older. It helps us understand how the very first galaxies started to form and grow when the universe was still very young and new.

The name IOK-1 might sound a bit funny, but it's actually a special code! 'IOK' stands for the last names of the scientists who discovered it: Iye, Ota, and Kashikawa. It’s like a secret handshake for the team that found this amazing ancient galaxy. They used a giant telescope called Subaru to see it.