NASA's Webb telescope shatters record for most distant galaxy ever found

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying the oldest galaxy ever found, just 350 million years after the Big Bang.

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NASA explain via its blog post that the galaxy is 13.4 billion years old, making it the earliest galaxy that has ever been observed. The discovery is a major breakthrough in our understanding of the early universe, as it provides crucial insight into the formation and evolution of galaxies. Previous observations of the early universe had only been able to detect galaxies that were several hundred million years older, so this discovery represents a significant advancement in our knowledge.

The James Webb Space Telescope is specifically designed to study the early universe and is expected to provide even more detailed observations of other ancient galaxies. This will allow scientists to better understand the processes that led to the formation of these galaxies and the role that they played in the early universe.

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"For the first time, we have discovered galaxies only 350 million years after the big bang, and we can be absolutely confident of their fantastic distances. To find these early galaxies in such stunningly beautiful images is a special experience," shared study co-author Brant Robertson from the University of California Santa Cruz, a member of the Webb's NIRCam science team.

"It was crucial to prove that these galaxies do, indeed, inhabit the early universe. It's very possible for closer galaxies to masquerade as very distant galaxies. Seeing the spectrum revealed as we hoped, confirming these galaxies as being at the true edge of our view, some further away than Hubble could see! It is a tremendously exciting achievement for the mission," said astronomer and study co-author Emma Curtis-Lake from the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.