• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Astronomers have found the most distant galaxy ever observed

Home> News

Updated 16:19 5 Aug 2022 GMT+1Published 16:18 5 Aug 2022 GMT+1

Astronomers have found the most distant galaxy ever observed

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh say the galaxy existed 235 million years after the Big Bang

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Astronomers have found what they believe is the most distant galaxy ever observed, saying the ‘amazing’ discovery is ‘just the start of many important observations’. 

Observations using NASA’s £10 million James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed a galaxy 35 billion light years from Earth, known as CEERS-93316. 

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh say the galaxy existed 235 million years after the Big Bang, which formed the first stars and galaxies in the Universe 13.8 billion years ago. 

The most distant galaxy previously identified was GN-z11, which is around 32 billion light-years from Earth, according to the university. 

Advert

The find is currently a 'preliminary' or 'candidate' result, meaning it will still need a follow-up study to be confirmed, but astronomers are still celebrating the development.

A colour image of CEERS-93316 created by undergraduate physics students Sophie Jewell and Clara Pollock.
University of Edinburgh.

Callum Donnan, an astrophysics PhD student in the university's Institute for Astronomy, said: “We’re using a telescope that was designed to do precisely this kind of thing, and it’s amazing. It’s allowing us to look back at the formation of the very first stars and galaxies more than 13.5 billion years ago. Without a doubt, this is just the start of many important observations that will be made using this incredible instrument in the weeks, months and years to come.” 

The team – which also included scientists from the University of Manchester, Sorbonne Université, France, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Sonoma State University, United States – have now submitted their study for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. 

Advert

In the abstract, they explained how the ‘advances’ presented in the study emphasise the importance of obtaining a ‘high dynamic range in studies of early galaxy evolution’, while also re-affirming the ‘enormous potential’ of ‘forthcoming larger JWST programmes to transform our understanding of the young Universe’. 

The James Webb Space Telescope.
dotted zebra/Alamy Stock Photo

The JWST is NASA’s largest and most powerful space telescope, which began operating in June 2022.

According to the BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos, the recent discovery will 'almost certainly be short-lived', as astronomers have been finding 'ever more distant candidates' since the telescope started operating.

Advert

"And if the designed performance is achieved, scientists could eventually see objects with Webb that were in existence perhaps as little as 100 million years after the Big Bang," Amos said.

"So we should expect a succession of announcements in the weeks and months ahead."

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected] 

Featured Image Credit: NASA/Edinburgh University

Topics: UK News, World News, Space

Jess Hardiman
Jess Hardiman

Jess is Entertainment Desk Lead at LADbible Group. She graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

X

@Jess_Hardiman

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • Getty Images
    3 hours ago

    Scientists find a link between what time you eat breakfast and an early death

    You better start picking up those cornflakes earlier...

    News
  • GoFundMe
    4 hours ago

    Police make major breakthrough in case of boy who was found dead in a creek after homecoming dance 14 years ago

    Blake Chappell was found dead in December 2011

    News
  • ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Getty
    4 hours ago

    Putin ally gives chilling warning about next steps as Kremlin says NATO is ‘at war with Russia’

    Fears remain high regarding an escalation of the war in Europe

    News
  • Fox
    5 hours ago

    Trump leaves people baffled by claiming almost the entire US population died from drug overdoses last year

    Donald Trump raised some eyebrows with his comments

    News
  • The universe is expanding faster than ever but scientists have no idea why
  • Astronomers discover half of the universe's hydrogen gas that's been unaccounted for since the Big Bang 13,800,000,000 years ago
  • Everything we know about distant planet after scientists discover '99.7%' chance of life
  • Scientists claim to have discovered 'cracks in the universe' after taking closer look at bizarre galaxy