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Space

Earliest galaxy ever seen offers glimpse of the nascent universe

The galaxy MoM-z14 dates back to 280 million years after the big bang, and the prevalence of such early galaxies is puzzling astronomers

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

20 May 2025

A deep-field image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope containing thousands of distant galaxies

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Astronomers have confirmed that a distant galaxy spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the earliest ever seen, giving us a window on galaxy formation when the universe was in its infancy.

Rohan Naidu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues used JWST to examine a galaxy called MoM-z14, which was first spotted in 2023.

Since it launched in 2021, JWST has detected galaxies…

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