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NASA Webb Pushes Boundaries of Observable Universe Closer to Big Bang

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January 28, 2026 10:00AM (EST)Release ID: 2026-107
A wide field of view showing deep space, dotted with many small galaxies and a few foreground stars that display six diffraction spikes.

Summary

In addition to setting a new distance record, galaxy MoM-z14 joins an emerging population of galaxies that are unexpectedly bright, compact, and chemically enriched.

It’s an exciting time to be an astronomer focused on the origins of the universe. How did we get here? It’s one of humanity’s biggest questions, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is making it possible to explore that question in completely new ways, revealing galaxies closer to the big bang than we’ve ever seen before.

Webb’s current most-distant galaxy, MoM-z14, existed only 280 million years after the universe began in the big bang. The number, and contents, of bright galaxies in the early universe are defying expectations and demanding new theories of what this period of cosmic history was like, and how it led to us.

Full Article

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has topped itself once again, delivering on its promise to push the boundaries of the observable universe closer to cosmic dawn with the confirmation of a bright galaxy that existed 280 million years after the big bang. By now Webb has established that it will eventually surpass virtually every benchmark it sets in these early years, but the newly confirmed galaxy, MoM-z14, holds intriguing clues to the universe’s historical timeline and just how different a place the early universe was than astronomers expected. “With Webb, we are able to ...

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Callout: Full Press Release

Visit NASA Science to view the full news release including article text and associated Webb imagery, graphics, scientific visualizations, videos, captions, text descriptions, and other information.

News releases highlighting the discoveries of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, under NASA Contract NAS5-03127. News release content is developed by the News Team in STScI’s Office of Public Outreach.

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