hat MoM-z14 could be home to supermassive stars, something that has long been predicted but not widely observed directly. The chemical composition of MoM-z14 resembles that of ancient globular clusters found in the Milky Way galaxy. "JWST seems poised to push a great expansion in the cosmic horizon. Previously unimaginable redshifts are now a reality, bringing us closer to the era of the first stars," the researchers concluded. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made history by discovering the most distant galaxy ever detected, named MoM-z14, observed only 280 million years after the Big Bang. This discovery pushes the boundaries of our understanding of the early universe, providing insights into the formation of the first galaxies.

Science Alert reports that the image of Abell S1063, which aided in this discovery, is the result of more than 120 hours of observation. It is composed of nine distinct captures, each taken at different wavelengths in the near-infrared. The colossal mass of Abell S1063 acts like a cosmic magnifying glass, bending the light from more distant galaxies behind it—a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. This effect allows the James Webb Space Telescope to perceive structures much farther away than it could otherwise capture, reaffirming its capability to explore the deep universe.

Through spectral analysis, a redshift of 14.44 was determined for MoM-z14, the highest ever confirmed, indicating that light from the galaxy traveled more than 13.5 billion years to reach Earth. MoM-z14 appeared when the universe was only about 2% of its current age, which is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years. "JWST has revealed a population of bright galaxies at very early times, which was previously unexpected. MoM-z14 extends the observational horizon to a time only 280 million years after the Big Bang," the researchers wrote.

MoM-z14 was observed by the James Webb Telescope as part of the Miracle program, designed to confirm the identity of early galaxies. Unlike many active galaxies triggered by supermassive black holes, the light from MoM-z14 primarily comes from its stars, not an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The discovery of MoM-z14 marks a milestone in human understanding of the early universe and the processes of galaxy formation, adding evidence that galaxy evolution is closely related to morphology and chemical composition since the early formation of the universe.

The nitrogen-to-carbon ratio in the galaxy MoM-z14 is recorded to be higher than that of the Sun. The researchers suspect t

Another distant galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0, observed 290 million years after the Big Bang, was also discovered. Both galaxies expand scientists' observational limits of the early universe. The redshift of 14.32 places JADES-GS-z14-0 as one of the most distant objects ever observed, while MoM-z14 has a redshift of 14.44.

Since its commissioning in 2022, the JWST opened a new era of scientific discoveries, providing perspectives on the formation of the first galaxies. The telescope delivered its deepest view yet of a single target, revealing galaxies forming in their distant past. The observations were made using the NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) system of the James Webb Telescope, allowing scientists to detect and measure the Lyman-alpha break with precision. This measurement helps establish the age of these distant galaxies, estimated at less than 300 million years after the Big Bang.

The phenomenon of redshift, caused by the expansion of the universe, is crucial in determining the distance and age of these galaxies. As galaxies move away, the light they emit shifts to longer wavelengths—a phenomenon known as redshift. The greater the redshift, the older and more distant the galaxy. By studying galaxies like MoM-z14 and JADES-GS-z14-0, astronomers hope to understand how the first cosmic structures arose during the Cosmic Dawn, a period covering the first hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang.

The presence of heavy elements like nitrogen and oxygen in these early galaxies suggests that several generations of massive stars had already formed and extinguished, enriching their environments. This finding raises new questions about the speed at which the first stars and heavy elements formed in the cosmos. The discovery contributes to refining current theoretical models and computational simulations, offering new clues about the early stages of the universe.

The astronomical community is looking forward to further data from future missions, which are expected to find hundreds of similar ancient galaxies. Studying these galaxies helps understand how the primitive universe evolved from an opaque and uniform environment into a complex and hierarchical structure.

Written with the help of a news-analysis system.