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James Webb telescope spots the earliest galaxy ever recorded

Updated Jun 4, 2025, 6:45am EDT
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Ancient galaxies seen by the James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The James Webb Space Telescope spotted the earliest galaxy ever recorded.

Looking through space is also looking through time: We see objects as they were when the light left them, so when we look at the Sun, we see it as it was eight minutes ago.

Newly discovered galaxy MoM z14, which lies a mere 13.53 billion light years away, is also the most distant object ever sighted, so it appears as it was just 280 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 2% of its current age.

As well as being an impressive technical feat, the discovery challenges physicists’ models of galaxy formation, implying that they formed more quickly than previously believed.

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