A Galactic-Scale Disappearing Act: Lyman-Break Galaxies at z ~ 8-9
Neutral hydrogen is very effective at absorbing radiation with wavelengths shorter than 91.2nm. This has become known as the Lyman limit. In this study, the authors use the Lyman-break technique to search for galaxies with z ~ 8 – 9. They use the latest Hubble WFC3 near-infrared data to look for large (Y-J) colors or, “Y-drops”, in a larger field than previous studies due to the camera’s larger field and better infrared sensitivity.