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JWST Detects the Earliest, Most Distant Galaxy in the Known Universe—And It’s Super Weird (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by ekZepp@lemmy.world to c/space@lemmy.world

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Summ:

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered the most distant galaxy ever confirmed, named JADES-GS-z14-0, which appears as it existed just 290 million years after the Big Bang.
The discovery of this surprisingly luminous and massive early galaxy challenges theories about how galaxies formed in the cosmic dawn
JWST has been repeatedly breaking its own records for the most distant galaxies since beginning operations in 2022

more about:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjeenyw8rd2o

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/early-highlights/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-finds-most-distant-known-galaxy

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[-] MrShankles@reddthat.com 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Huh... that made my brain do a few twists. The reference point for distance would be our own galaxy (I assume). So you would think that the furthest one would be the "oldest" due to expansion of the universe... so I would think that you're correct in your correction?

Unless they meant "older" in the sense of "discovered earlier"? I have no idea anymore, I guess they could argue it either way

Edit: After re-reading it, I think they're just referring "Younger" and "Older" to how the galaxies appear to us (due to the time it takes light to travel). As in, the newest discovery is "younger" because that's the age that we can observe it as, by the time the light has reached us. Idk anymore, I know nothing lol

[-] atx_aquarian@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Oh, ok, now I think I'm following. So, like, maybe the one whose light is older (since it's farther away) could be in a less-developed state, like seeing an older photo of a baby.

The universe breaks my brain, too. I love it!