Webb Telescope Captures Galaxy 290 Million Years After the Big Bang
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have used the James Webb Space Telescope to identify a galaxy that existed a mere 290 million years after the Big Bang, setting a new record according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Over the past two years, researchers have utilized the Webb telescope to investigate the Cosmic Dawn, the period in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang when the first galaxies formed.
These galaxies are believed to provide vital insights into how gas, stars, and black holes evolved when the universe was still in its infancy.
In 2023 and January 2024, an international team of astronomers used Webb to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program, focusing on examining redshift. This phenomenon involves the light from an object shifting to longer wavelengths, allowing astronomers to determine the distance of the observed object.
This time, the discovery was made at a record distance. The newly identified galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-o, is estimated to have existed only 290 million years after the Big Bang, which is believed to have occurred approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
The Webb telescope, successor to the renowned Hubble Space Telescope, was developed by the United States, Europe, and Canada and was launched in 2021. Previously, it had identified galaxies from 330 million years after the Big Bang.