This story about what has been newly learned about this Universe is almost overshadowed by the continuing revelation of what we do not know about it!! :) Astronomers have found something that is there, it's different, and they don't know why it is there, and they don't know why it is there. Sounds like a script for a "3 Stooges" segment doncha think?
There is a slight catch to this story - - - they say the tiny dusty galaxy dates from just "700 million years or so after the big bang", so that would mean they are looking about 13 billion years back into time to see this.
This is a piece from National Geographic.
By Michael D. Lemonick
for National Geographic
PUBLISHED MARCH 2, 2015
Peering back in time to find the very earliest objects in the universe, an international team of astronomers has discovered a galaxy that shouldn't be there at all.
The problem, the scientists report Monday in Nature, is that while the tiny galaxy dates from just 700 million years or so after the big bang, it's far more dusty than something this young and small has any right to be.
It's surprising, says Daniel Marrone, a University of Arizona expert on galaxy formation who wasn't involved in the research, because although dust is essential for the formation of planets and other solid material, the cosmos started out with no dust at all. In the aftermath of the big bang, the universe consisted only of hydrogen and helium gas (along with dark matter, but that's invisible).
The dusty galaxy is just one of the recent surprises astronomers have found. "Last week," says Marrone, "we learned of an incredibly massive black hole in the early universe. Now we have this average galaxy with significant amounts of dust. We've had this cartoon picture of the early universe, but it's clear that we really don't know what's going on."
More: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-black-hole-blast-biggest-science-galaxies-space/