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Even though the first abundant population of star-forming galaxies at z > 6 have been discovered in deepest imaging campaigns with HST, the redshift and intrinsic faintness of these objects present a challenge for spectroscopy. As such, relatively little is known about the physical conditions in galaxies at the earliest cosmic times and the limited observations we do have pose challenges to current stellar population models. While still difficult, these issues can be circumvented by studying ’extreme’ galaxies at lower redshifts (1 < z < 6). I will highlight our recent work in this direction from cutting edge facilities such as MUSE on the VLT as well as ultra-deep HST imaging and spectroscopy. In one particular region, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, we have performed the deepest integral field spectroscopic survey with MUSE. With data of up to 30-hour depth, we have uncovered an abundant population of galaxies with physical properties similar to those at the highest redshifts, including a hitherto invisible population that represent the faintest and lowest-mass galaxies we have ever discovered at cosmological distances. Detailed studies of these populations will shed light onto the galaxy formation process and give us a preview of science in the JWST era. |
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