Latest news with #MoMz14
WIRED
2 days ago
- General
- WIRED
Astronomers Have Detected a Galaxy Millions of Years Older Than Any Previously Observed
Jun 3, 2025 5:00 AM Researchers estimate that MoM z14 was created 280 million years after the Big Bang, 10 million years earlier than the previous most primitive galaxy recorded. The Big Bang is estimated to have taken place 13.8 billion years ago. Illustration: Getty Images With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has broken the record for the oldest, most distant galaxy detected to date by humans. In a preprint study, still awaiting peer review and publication in a journal, astronomers describe this primitive galaxy, giving it the name MoM z14. According to the researchers' calculations, this 'cosmic miracle' originated 280 million years after the Big Bang, beating the record set by the discovery just last year of JADES-GS-Z14-0, a galaxy created 290 million years after the origin of the universe. To put these measurements in context, the current age of the universe is estimated to be 13.8 billion years. Earth has an approximate age of 4.543 billion years. No one expected the James Webb Space Telescope to have the potential to observe things so close in age to the Big Bang just three and a half years after launch. A brief reminder about distances relative to space-time. Because light travels at a finite speed of 300,000 meters per second, and because space is expanding, observing light from very distant objects is equivalent to seeing what they were like long ago. For example, when we say that MoM z14 is roughly 13.5 billion years old, that means you would have to travel 13.5 billion years at the speed of light to reach its destination. So far, there is no point detected by a scientific instrument farther away, and at the same time, older, than this one. The James Webb Space Telescope, with its ability to peer deep into distant space, allows us to study some aspects of the universe in its early stages. How does it do this? By infrared sensors. Due to the expansion of the universe, almost all the galaxies we see from Earth are moving away from us. So, from our point of view, their light appears to have a longer wavelength because it is stretched by this movement. We call this 'redshift': Their wavelengths are redder because they are longer, and so shift towards the red end of the light spectrum. The earlier an object was created, and therefore the farther away it is, having expanded outwards for a longer period of time, the greater the redshift. The James Webb Space Telescope was able to determine that MoM z14 is 50 times smaller than the Milky Way, and also detected the presence of nitrogen and carbon in the galaxy. This is significant because, despite being only 280 million years older than the Big Bang, this shows that MoM z14 does not belong to the first generation of galaxies formed, since stars in these galaxies would be made up only of hydrogen and helium, the elements that predominantly made up the early universe. Heavier elements only arrived later, after being produced in stars. Can the James Webb cross that threshold and find the first generation of galaxies? Such discoveries could be a long way off, but we have to keep looking. This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope discovers earliest galaxy ever seen in the universe
Source: YouTube The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has once again made history by discovering the most distant and ancient galaxy ever observed, named MoM z14. Located just 280 million years after the Big Bang, this galaxy pushes the boundaries of cosmic observation. The finding highlights JWST's exceptional ability to peer into the early universe, offering unprecedented insights into the formation of the first galaxies. With its record-breaking redshift of z = 14.44, MoM z14 not only redefines our understanding of galaxy evolution but also suggests that even earlier galaxies may soon be within reach, marking a new era in astronomy. JWST discovers one of the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang NASA's $10 billion space telescope has spotted a galaxy that was present only 280 million years after the Big Bang, a time that astronomers refer to as "cosmic dawn." The discovery team dubbed this galaxy MoM z14—"Mother of all early galaxies" for short. "First and foremost, at the moment, this is the most distant object known to humanity," said Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University professor of Astronomy and Physics, in an interview. 'MoM z14 existed when the universe was about 280 million years old—we're getting quite close to the Big Bang. Just to put that in context, sharks have been around on Earth for a longer timespan!' Since entering service in mid-2022, the JWST has been outstanding at detecting very distant galaxies by means of an effect known as redshift. When the universe gets bigger, light from old galaxies gets stretched, moving toward the red end of the spectrum. The more distant and thus older the galaxy is, the higher the redshift. Prior to MoM z14, the then-record holder was a galaxy named JADES-GS-z14-0, seen at a redshift of z = 14.32, some 300 million years following the Big Bang. MoM z14 is all the more impressive with a redshift of z = 14.44, extending modern astronomy's observational limits. Discovery of MoM z14 reshapes the view of galaxy formation In van Dokkum's view, the discovery of MoM z14 is not merely a new record—it provokes earlier hypotheses on the early formation of galaxies. "The bigger picture here is that JWST wasn't supposed to discover any galaxies this early in the universe's history at least, or at least at this point in the mission," he states. Previous JWST models predicted significantly fewer bright galaxies in the universe's early days. Current observations indicate more than 100 such galaxies exist in the early universe—significantly more than before. What sets MoM z14 apart Aside from its record-setting age, scientists were able to glean useful insight into MoM z14's composition and structure: Size: Roughly 50 times smaller than the Milky Way. Star formation: The galaxy possesses unexplained emission lines showing that it is extremely young and quickly producing new stars. Chemical composition: Existence of carbon and nitrogen, which implies that it's not one of the absolute first generation galaxies. "These things suggest that there had to be previous galaxies made only of hydrogen and helium that existed prior to MoM z14," said van Dokkum. "MoM z14 might be the first generation of 'normal' galaxies that started making heavier elements using processes in stars." Also Read | Meteorite that hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago may have sparked good news for life, study reveals
Gizmodo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Image Reveals the Most Distant Galaxy Ever Seen, From Just 280 Million Years After the Big Bang
The James Webb Space Telescope's latest find is yet another record-breaker: the most distant galaxy ever detected, shining just 280 million years after the Big Bang. Named MoM-z14 (cue the 'your mama's so old' jokes), the galaxy was spotted by JWST as part of the Mirage (or Miracle) survey, a program designed to confirm the identities of early galaxies. MoM-z14 clocks in at a redshift of z = 14.4, meaning its light has been stretched by the expansion of the universe by more than 14 times, and offering a clue to its age. The team of researchers, led by MIT's Rohan Naidu, posted its findings to the preprint server arXiv and has submitted them to the Open Journal of Astrophysics. This galaxy isn't just some dim smudge, either—it's unexpectedly luminous, echoing a growing theme in JWST's discoveries. MoM-z14 now joins a strange new class of young galaxies that shine far more brightly than anyone expected. JADES-GS-z14-0, discovered in a separate deep field survey, similarly stunned astronomers with its size and brilliance, spanning 1,600 light-years and harboring hundreds of millions of solar masses in stars. Like JADES-GS-z14-0, MoM-z14 doesn't appear to be powered by a supermassive black hole, but rather by dense populations of young, luminous stars. The brightness of these objects challenges existing models of how quickly the universe could form stars and galaxies after the Big Bang. JWST's piercing infrared gaze exceeds the abilities of the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes to peer so far back in time. The leap in capability is making it possible for Webb scientists not just to detect early galaxies, but to discern their structure and composition in surprising detail. For example, EGS23205—a barred spiral galaxy seen by both Hubble and JWST—appeared faint and featureless in the telescope's earlier images. But JWST revealed a clear stellar bar at its center, upending assumptions that spiral galaxies—and their intricate structures—took billions of years to evolve. Gravitational lensing is also helping JWST peer even deeper. In the case of the ancient galaxies found near the Abell 2744 cluster (nicknamed 'Pandora's Cluster'), light from early galaxies—some just 350 million years post-Big Bang—is bent and magnified by intervening mass, allowing astronomers to glimpse primordial cosmic objects that would otherwise be invisible. These faint light sources, magnified by the cluster's immense gravity, offer an intimate view of the early universe and have become essential to deep-field astronomy. MoM-z14's chemical signature adds another wrinkle to the universe's story: it's rich in nitrogen relative to carbon—a trait shared by ancient globular clusters around the Milky Way that may have once hosted supermassive stars, according to the research. That resemblance hints at a continuity in star-forming environments stretching across more than 13 billion years. It may also reflect a broader trend—the paper notes a split among early galaxies between compact, nitrogen-rich sources like MoM-z14, and more disparate, nitrogen-poor ones. The former may define a new class of Little Red Dots, as Universe Today reports, blazing with clues about the universe's first bursts of star formation. While future observatories like the Roman Space Telescope may reveal even more of these early cosmic oddities, JWST has already rewritten the timeline of galaxy formation. Based on its current pace, the telescope will almost certainly break its own record again soon.
