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BySethBorenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON Astrono- mers say they have discov- ered a hot, star-popping gal- axy that is far, far away — farther than any previously detected, from a time when the universe was a mere toddler of about 400 mil- lion years old. By employing a different technique — one that has raised some skepticism — a team of astronomers ex- posed a time period they'd thought was impossible to observe with today's tech- nology. They used the Hub- ble Space Telescope and found the light wave signa- ture of an extremely bright galaxy 13.4 billion light- years away, according to a study published Thursday by Astrophysical Journal. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 million light- years. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles. It shatters old records for distance and time in a big way, and may remain the farthest that can be seen for years, until a new space telescope is launched, the team of astronomers said. With that light signa- ture, astronomers were able to produce a photo of this galaxy that's fuzzy and all- too deceptive in color. It ap- pears darkish red and in- distinct, when in reality it's so hot it is bright blue, but the light has traveled so long and far that it has shifted to the very end of the color spectrum, to dark red. And that fuzziness masks an incredible rate of star formation that's 10 times more frenetic than our Milky Way, said study co-author Gabriel Bram- mer, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science In- stitute. "It really is star burst- ing," Brammer said. "We're getting closer and closer to when we think the first stars formed ... There's not a lot of actual time be- tween this galaxy and the Big Bang." If we were back in time and near this gal- axy (named GN-z11), we'd see "blue, stunning, really bright young stars" and all around us would be "very messy looking objects" that are galaxies just forming — not the large bright spirals we think of as galaxies, said study co-author Garth Ill- ingworth at the University of California Santa Cruz. Astronomers measure the distance an object by calculating how much the light changes from blue to red, called redshift. This discovery is of a galaxy with redshift of 11.1; until this discovery, the previous highest redshift was 8.68, about 580 million years af- ter the Big Bang. For a long time, competing teams of astronomers were just try- ing to reach a redshift of 9, about 550 million years af- ter the Big Bang. But the new discovery blew all that out of the water, surprising the team that found it, said study lead author Pascal Oesch of Yale. The way they did it was different than the old methods of using a stan- dard light wave signature marker, with the spectrum measured precisely by ground telescope. Instead, the team looked beyond that bright line to a longer, but messier light wave spec- trum, using what's consid- ered a rougher tool, Illing- worth said. Competing astronomer Richard Ellis at the Euro- pean Southern Observatory, who found the previous re- cord far galaxy, was skepti- cal. He said the light signa- tures used by Oesch's teams are "noisier and harder to interpret" and may over- lap with competing nearby stars or galaxies. And for GN-z11 to be that visible it would have to be three times brighter than typi- cal galaxies, he said in an email. Record distant galaxy from early cosmos spotted SPACE By Nancy Benac and David Eggert The Associated Press DETROIT Picking up right where they left off, Don- ald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio barked fresh rounds of insults at each other in a Republican pres- idential debate Thursday night that also featured a crude sexual reference from Trump — and just a bit of new discussion of policy. Rubio justified his at- tacks on Trump by say- ing the billionaire busi- nessman had "basically mocked everybody" over the past year. Trump coun- tered with a feint, saying he'd called Rubio a "light- weight" in the past but "he's really not that much of a lightweight." Trump then noted that Rubio had mocked his hands as small, widely viewed as an insult about Trump's sexual prowess. Holding his hands up to the audience, Trump de- clared, "I guarantee you, there's no problem" in that area. It was a jaw-dropping moment in a campaign that's been full of surprises from the beginning. There were moments of policy debate Thursday night, too, as Rubio and Cruz pressed Trump ag- gressively on his conserva- tive credentials, his busi- ness practices and shifting policy positions. Trump, in short order, demonstrated his willing- ness to deal and be flexible when it suits his needs. He said it was fine that Rubio had negotiated with other lawmakers on immi- gration policy. He acknowledged changing his own mind to support admitting more highly skilled workers from overseas, saying matter-of- factly, "I'm changing. I'm changing. We need highly skilled people in this coun- try." And he also was mat- ter of fact about providing campaign contributions to leading Democrats, includ- ing 10 checks to Hillary Clinton, reviled by many conservatives. Trump said it was sim- ply business. "I've supported Demo- crats and I've supported Republicans, and as a busi- nessman I owed that to my company, to my family, to my workers, to everybody to get along," he said. Pressed on why he hadn't immediately disavowed Da- vid Duke and the Ku Klux Klan when first questioned about it, Trump said he "to- tally" disavows both. When Rubio faulted Trump's businesses for manufacturing clothing in China and Mexico rather than the U.S., Trump re- torted, "This little guy has lied so much about my re- cord." Asked when he would start making more clothes in the U.S., Trump said that would happen when cur- rency valuations weren't bi- ased against manufactur- ing garments in America. When moderator Megyn Kelly told Trump his shifts caused some people to question his core, Trump insisted: "I have a very strong core. I have a very strong core. But I've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible, who didn't have a certain de- gree of flexibility." John Kasich sought to turn Trump's statement on the value of "flexibility" into a character question. When the Ohio governor meets with voters, he said, "you know what they really want to know? If somebody tells them something, can they believe it? Cruz, too, took the fight to Trump, saying that while it's easy to print campaign slogans on baseball caps, as Trump does, the question is whether Trump under- stands what made Amer- ica great in the first place. He labeled Trump part of the problem, not the so- lution, accusing him of be- ing "someone who has used government power for pri- vate gain." "For 40 years, Don- ald has been part of the corruption in Washing- ton" that people are angry about, Cruz said, citing Trump's campaign contri- butions to leading Demo- crats, including then-Sen. Clinton. But any number of pre- dictions that GOP voters would unite behind one anti-Trump candidate have come and gone without a change in the overall dy- namic. Trump, with 10 state vic- tories, continues to domi- nate the conversation and the delegate count. Thursday's debate, spon- sored by Fox News, was the first time Trump faced his rivals since scooping up seven victories on Super Tuesday. It was also the first time he faced questioning from Kelly since the two clashed in the first primary debate. That's when Kelly's tough questioning about Trump's treatment of women blew up into a running argu- ment between Fox and the candidate. Trump, who dismissed Kelly as a "light- weight" and a "bimbo," ended up boycotting a sub- sequent Fox debate, claim- ing the network was un- fair. Trump signaled he was ready for a truce. When Kelly posed her first ques- tion to him, Trump told her "you're looking well. You're looking well." Trump has continued to pile up delegates during the long, and so far unsuccess- ful, effort to topple him. He leads the field with 329 delegates. Cruz has 231, Rubio 110 and Kasich 25. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president. PRESIDENTIAL RACE In su lt s fl yi ng o nc e mo re a t GOP debate despite pledges PAULSANCYA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Businessman Donald Trump, right, speaks as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., listens during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre on Thursday in Detroit. P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 73 7-5047 4,769fans+56 this week FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B