James Webb confirms discovery of oldest galaxy - object appeared 320 million after Big Bang

The James Webb Space Telescope has helped scientists confirm that the object JADES-GS-z13-0 is the oldest galaxy ever discovered. It's another challenge to current theories that explain the evolution of the universe, individual stars and galaxies.

Here's What We Know

In mid-2022, scientists were able to detect four objects in the early Universe. This was one of the first works of the new space observatory. One of the four objects found was the galaxy JADES-GS-z13-0.

After spectral analysis, the scientists concluded that JADES-GS-z13-0 is the oldest galaxy ever discovered. It was formed 320 million years after the Big Bang. The other three objects were designated JADES-GS-z10-0, JADES-GS-z11-0 and JADES-GS-z12-0. They appeared about 130 million years after the formation of JADES-GS-z13-0.

All four galaxies were not very massive. While the Milky Way has a mass of 1.5 trillion solar masses, each of the four galaxies discovered last year were only about 100 million times more massive than our own. However, three stars are born every year.

Before JADES-GS-z13-0 was discovered, GN-z11 was the oldest known galaxy, discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope about 7 years ago. It appeared 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Source: Nature