A group of astronomers from the University of Edinburghthey achieved thanks to James Webb Space Telescopefind the oldest and most distant galaxy in the universe, named CEERS-93316.
This galaxy existed only 235 million years following the Big Bang, the event 13.8 billion years ago that formed the first stars and galaxies.
Before data from the new telescope became available, the most distant galaxy ever identified was GN-z11, which is regarding 32 billion light-years from Earth.
The research also involved scientists from the University of Manchester, Sorbonne University, France, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Sonoma State University, USA.
Physics students Sophie Jewell and Clara Pollock created a color image of the newly discovered galaxy while undertaking summer projects at the University’s Institute for Astronomy.
Callun Donnan, from the Edinburgh School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “We’re using a telescope that was designed to do just this kind of thing, and it’s amazing. It allows us to look back at the formation of the first stars and galaxies more than 13.5 billion years ago. Without a doubt, this is just the beginning of many important observations to be made using this incredible instrument in the weeks, months and years to come.”
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