Near Infrared Observations of a Redshift 5.34 Galaxy: Further Evidence   for Dust Absorption in the Early Universe
  Imaging at 1.25 and 2.20 microns has been obtained of the field containing the galaxy (RD1) found at redshift 5.34 by Dey et al.(1998). This galaxy has been detected at 1.25 microns, while the lower redshift (z=4.02) galaxy also found in the same field by Dey et al. was detected at both 1.25 and 2.20 microns. Comparison to stellar population synthesis models indicates that if RD1 is a young (< 100 Myr old) galaxy, significant reddening (A(V) > 0.5 mag) is indicated. Combined with observations of other high redshift systems, these data show that dust is likely to be an important component of young galaxies even at redshifts of z > 5. The extinction-corrected monochromatic luminosity of RD1 at 1500 angstroms is then a factor of about three larger than L(1500)* as determined by Dickinson (1998) for z ~ 3 starburst galaxies. The implied star formation rate in RD1, corrected for extinction, is ~ 50-100 solar masses per year. 
L. Armus(SIRTF Science Center), K. Matthews (Caltech), G. Neugebauer   (Caltech), and B.T. Soifer (Caltech)