2 EXTREMELY RED GALAXIES

We report the discovery of two galaxies with (I-K) approximately 6.5 l ying near the line of sight to the z = 3.790 quasar PC 1643+4631 A. Ba sed on the spectral energy distributions and angular extents of the ob jects we suggest that the most likely interpretation is that they are elliptical galaxies lying at z approximately 2.4 The existence of such evolved objects at this redshift would imply a current age of the uni verse substantially in excess of 1.0 x 10(10) yr for q0 = 0.02, and 1. 9 X 10(10) yr for q0 = 0.5. It would also imply that at least some lar ge luminous galaxies were already fully formed at z > 6.