JWST is upholding the hype. Even more fascinating new information is emerging following the publication of the initial scientific findings last week. Observations of what may be the furthest galaxy yet are among them. Its light, known as GLASS-z13, was generated just over 300 million years after the Big Bang. Accordingly, the galaxy is currently 33 billion light-years away from Earth.
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The results were published in an article that was sent to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and although it is undergoing peer review, it is accessible on the ArXiv.
Along with another extremely far-off galaxy, GLASS-z11, whose light originates from 420 million years after the Big Bang, this one was found. These two objects, along with the Gn-z11 galaxy, which now holds the record for being the farthest galaxy, and another contender dubbed HD1, imply that there may be a population of very bright galaxies that created many stars very quickly. Already, GLASS-z11 seems to have the characteristics of a disk galaxy.
While these findings need to be validated repeatedly, the team has offered a few cautions. Since JWST is a novel observatory, there may be some unanswered questions. Fortunately, JWST is set up to measure the distance of these objects using a different technique.
If these galaxies are found to exist at this distances, it means that there are likely many more old, bright galaxies out there that JWST has yet to discover. This means that the space telescope will advance infrared astronomy within a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
