The oldest known and most distant galaxy found

The James Webb telescope has discovered the oldest and most distant galaxy known.

The James Webb Space Telescope has set a new record by detecting the most distant known galaxy.

According to the BBC, the collection of stars, dubbed JADES-GS-z14-0, was imaged as it looked 290 million years after the Big Bang, which is thought to have caused the universe to expand. The James Webb telescope made this discovery with its 6.5-meter-wide primary mirror and sensitive infrared instruments.

The telescope's previous record was the detection of a galaxy 325 million years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers say the most interesting aspect of the latest observation is the size and brightness of JADES-GS-z14-0, rather than the great distance.

According to Webb measurements, the galaxy is more than 1600 light-years across. The brightest galaxies usually produce most of their light through gas falling into a supermassive black hole. Measurements of JADES-GS-z14-0, however, indicate that the light is produced by young stars.

According to Webb astronomers Stefano Carniani and Kevin Hainline, “This much starlight means that the galaxy is several hundred million times the mass of the Sun. This raises the question: How could nature create such a bright, large and gigantic galaxy in less than 300 million years?”

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space in 2021 as a joint effort of the US, European and Canadian space agencies to replace the Hubble telescope. It was specifically designed to see farther (and farther back in time) than any previous space device.

One of the telescope's main goals is to detect the first light of stars in the universe, which began twinkling 13.5 billion years ago.