Latest news with #JADES-GS-z14-0
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hi, 'Mom'! James Webb telescope discovers MoM-z14 — the most distant, early galaxy ever seen
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the most distant galaxy observed to date — breaking its own record yet again. The galaxy, dubbed MoM-z14, is "the most distant spectroscopically confirmed source to date, extending the observational frontier to a mere 280 million years after the Big Bang," researchers wrote in a new study that appeared May 23 on the preprint server arXiv. In other words, the galaxy emitted light just 280 million years after the birth of the universe; after its long journey across the cosmos, that light is only now reaching Earth and JWST's infrared sensors. "It's pretty exciting," Charlotte Mason, an astrophysicist at the University of Copenhagen who wasn't involved in the study, told New Scientist. "It confirms that there really are these very bright galaxies in the universe." Since beginning operation in 2022, JWST has spotted more bright, ancient galaxies than scientists expected, challenging previous theories about the universe's infancy. "This unexpected population has electrified the community and raised fundamental questions about galaxy formation in the first 500 [million years after the Big Bang]," the authors wrote. As more examples trickle in, scientists are working to confirm whether these luminous objects really are ancient galaxies. Study lead author Rohan Naidu, an astrophysicist at MIT, and colleagues combed through existing JWST images for potential early galaxies to check. After identifying MoM-z14 as a possible target, they turned the telescope toward the peculiar object in April 2025. One way scientists can measure an astronomical object's age is by measuring its redshift. As the universe expands, it stretches the light emitted by distant objects to longer, "redder" wavelengths. The farther and longer the light has traveled, the larger its redshift. In the new study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, the team confirmed MoM-z14's redshift as 14.44 — larger than that of the previous record holder for farthest observed galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0, at 14.18. Related: James Webb telescope sees 'birth' of 3 of the universe's earliest galaxies in world-1st observations MoM-z14 is fairly compact for the amount of light it emits. It's about 240 light-years across, some 400 times smaller than our own galaxy. And it contains about as much mass as the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. RELATED STORIES —James Webb telescope spots Milky Way's long-lost 'twin' — and it is 'fundamentally changing our view of the early universe' —'I was astonished': Ancient galaxy discovered by James Webb telescope contains the oldest oxygen scientists have ever seen —'Totally unexpected' galaxy discovered by James Webb telescope defies our understanding of the early universe The researchers observed MoM-z14 during a burst of rapid star formation. It's also rich in nitrogen relative to carbon, much like globular clusters observed in the Milky Way. These ancient, tightly-bound groups of thousands to millions of stars are thought to have formed in the first few billion years of the universe, making them the oldest known stars in the nearby cosmos. That MoM-z14 appears similar could suggest that stars formed in comparable ways even at this very early stage in the universe's development. Though scientists still aim to confirm more high redshift galaxies, researchers expect to find even more candidates with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an infrared telescope designed to observe a large swath of the sky, which is set to launch by May 2027. But JWST may break its own record again before then. "JWST itself appears poised to drive a series of great expansions of the cosmic frontier," the authors wrote. "Previously unimaginable redshifts, approaching the era of the very first stars, no longer seem far away."
Express Tribune
22-03-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Oxygen detected in galaxy just 300 million years after big bang
This image shows the precise location in the night sky of the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, an extremely tiny dot in the Fornax constellation. As of today, this is the most distant confirmed galaxy we know of. Its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us and shows the conditions of the Universe when it was only 300 million years old. The inset of the image shows a close-up of this primordial galaxy as seen with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The inset is overlaid on an image taken with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Carniani et al./S. Schouws et al/JWST: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA) Listen to article Astronomers have detected oxygen in the most distant known galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0, just 300 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery, made using the ALMA telescope, suggests galaxies formed and matured far more rapidly than previously believed. JADES-GS-z14-0, discovered in 2024, is the farthest confirmed galaxy observed, with its light traveling 13.4 billion years to reach Earth. Scientists expected the early universe to lack heavy elements, but findings show this galaxy contains significantly more oxygen than anticipated, indicating rapid star formation and chemical enrichment. The breakthrough, reported by two independent research teams, provides a more precise distance measurement of the galaxy and challenges conventional timelines of galaxy evolution. Scientists highlight the synergy between the ALMA telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in pushing the boundaries of early cosmic discoveries. Experts say this finding could reshape our understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved in the universe's infancy.
Saba Yemen
21-03-2025
- Science
- Saba Yemen
Oxygen Discovered in Oldest Known Galaxy in Universe
London - Saba: Astronomers have detected oxygen in the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, the oldest known galaxy to date, discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2024. Using the ALMA Microwave Telescope, large quantities of oxygen ions were detected in this galaxy, located 13.4 billion light-years away, indicating that it evolved at an incredible speed 290 million years after the Big Bang. The results exceeded scientific expectations, shedding light on how the earliest galaxies in the universe evolved more rapidly than previously thought. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
BBC News
21-03-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Oxygen found in most distant known galaxy from Earth
Oxygen has been found in the most distant galaxy ever as JADES-GS-z14-0, the galaxy was detected last year by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope. Its light took more than thirteen billion years to reach Earth, meaning it can reveal what the universe was like when it was just 300 million years old. Astronomers say that the discovery provides evidence that the universe developed much faster after the Big Bang than previously thought. What have scientists discovered? The study was carried out by two teams of experts - one from Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and the other by the Scuola Normale Superiore University in Pisa, both used data from the Alma telescope in the Chilean to the European Southern Observatory, galaxies usually start their lives full of young stars, which are made mostly of light elements such as hydrogen and stars evolve, they create heavier elements like oxygen, which then gets scattered through their galaxy after they previously believed that a galaxy such as JADES-GS-z14-0, which is only 300 million years old, was therefore too young to contain the two different teams of astronomers found that despite its young age, JADES-GS-z14-0 contained around 10 times more heavy elements than Schouws, from Leiden Observatory, said: "The results show the galaxy has formed very rapidly and is also maturing rapidly, adding to a growing body of evidence that the formation of galaxies happens much faster than was expected."Stefano Carniani, from the Scuola Normale Superiore, added: "I was astonished by the unexpected results because they opened a new view on the first phases of galaxy evolution."The evidence that a galaxy is already mature in the infant Universe raises questions about when and how galaxies formed," he explained.
Daily Tribune
21-03-2025
- Science
- Daily Tribune
Oxygen detected in most distant galaxy: ‘astonished' astronomers
AFP | Paris Oxygen has been detected in the most distant galaxy ever discovered, surprised astronomers said yesterday, offering further evidence that stars in the early universe matured far quicker than had been thought possible. The galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, which was discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope last year, is so far away that its light took 13.4 billion years to reach Earth. This means the galaxy can also reveal what the universe was like in its infancy, when it was just 300 million years old -- two percent of its current age. Since coming online in 2022, the powerful Webb telescope has discovered that galaxies in the young universe were much brighter, more advanced and more numerous than scientists had expected. These discoveries have been so startling they have raised doubts about whether something important is missing in our understanding of the universe. For the latest research, two international teams led by Dutch and Italian astronomers probed the JADES-GS-z14-0 galaxy using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile's Atacama desert. They detected traces of oxygen, according to the European Southern Observatory, confirming hints previously spotted by the Webb telescope.
