Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

James Webb might have spotted the most distant galaxy ever observed

Georgina Torbet
By

The James Webb Space Telescope has already stunned the world with the deepest image of space ever taken in the infrared, and now it has another feather in its cap — the potential discovery of the most distant galaxy ever observed.

Early data is coming in from a survey called the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space, or GLASS, which uses both Webb’s NIRCam camera and its NIRISS and NIRSpec spectrographs to observe a galaxy cluster called Abell 2744. The aim of the survey is to look back at a very early period after the Big Bang called the Epoch of Reionization, when the first starlight shone through the universe. It’s possible to see very distant galaxies because the mass of Abell 2744 is so great that it warps spacetime, acting as a magnifying glass for the faint galaxies behind it.

In the first batch of data from GLASS, researchers have identified two galaxies that have very high redshifts, meaning that their light is shifted far into the infrared range which indicates they are exceedingly far away. The results indicate that we could be seeing the two galaxies as they were 13.4 billion years ago. “We’re potentially looking at the most distant starlight that anyone has ever seen,” lead author Rohan Naidu said to AFP.

These results were collected with the NIRCam instrument, so they still need to be confirmed with further readings such as spectroscopy results from NIRSpec. The paper has also not yet been peer-reviewed, so the results should be considered speculative at this point until further confirmation is released. But the work gives an exciting preview of the kind of results that will be possible with James Webb.

The older of the two galaxies, called GLASS-z13, could be from one of the earliest stages of the universe, within 300 million years after the Big Bang. If the results are confirmed, that would make it the most distant galaxy ever observed. “The light from GLASS-z13 took 13.4 billion years to hit us, but the distance between us is now 33 billion light years due to the expansion of the universe!” physicist James O’Donoghue explained on Twitter.

The research is available to view on pre-print archive arXiv.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
30-year-old mission to study the magnetosphere comes to a close
An artist's concept of the Geotail spacecraft.
Browse through 3B celestial objects in Milky Way survey
Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The new dataset contains a staggering 3.32 billion celestial objects — arguably the largest such catalog so far. The data for this unprecedented survey were taken with the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera at the NSF’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NOIRLab.
Hubble snaps an image of a galaxy in our cosmic backyard
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy LEDA 48062 in the constellation Perseus. LEDA 48062 is the faint, sparse, amorphous galaxy on the right side of the image, and it is accompanied by a more sharply defined neighbor on the left – the large, disk-like lenticular galaxy UGC 8603. A smattering of more distant galaxies litter the background while a handful of foreground stars shine brightly throughout the image.
SpaceX reaches agreement with astronomers to limit Starlink interference
Image showing the disruption of astronomical observations caused by a previous Starlink launch
NASA is asking for your help to study exoplanets
Members of the public can help astronomers observe and study the night sky through NASA’s Universe of Learning Exoplanet Watch program.
How to watch two astronauts perform their first spacewalk on Friday
A photo of Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada on Dec. 22, 2022, preparing a roll-out solar array for its deployment on the International Space Station's Port-4 truss segment as the orbiting lab flew 264 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.
Watch key moments of SpaceX triple-booster Falcon Heavy launch
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.
Enjoy these amazing space images by NASA’s oldest active astronaut
Don Pettit aboard the space station.
Watch SpaceX footage of Falcon Heavy from launch to landing
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.
This must be the most beautiful image ever of a rocket launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Florida.
Still no joy for Lucy’s stuck solar array, NASA is giving up for now
see lucy spacecraft slingshot past earth fly by
Light pollution is cutting off views of the night sky for many
A startling analysis from Globe at Night — a citizen science program run by NSF’s NOIRLab — concludes that stars are disappearing from human sight at an astonishing rate. The study finds that, to human eyes, artificial lighting has dulled the night sky more rapidly than indicated by satellite measurements. The study showcases the unique contributions that citizen scientists can make in essential fields of research. This graphic illustrates how the greater the amount of light pollution, and therefore skyglow, the fewer the stars that are visible. The numeric scale is similar to the one used by Globe at Night participants. 
First spacewalk of the year sees astronauts dealing with a sticky foothold
Spacewalkers (from left) Koichi Wakata and Nicole Mann are pictured installing hardware on the space station preparing the orbiting lab for its next roll-out solar array.