The galaxy, called JD1, is one of the farthest and faintest galaxies detected so far, and we see it as it was about 13.3 billion years ago, when the universe was about four percent of its current age.
The most powerful focusing eyes in the world
The discovery itself was only possible thanks to the world’s most powerful space telescope, James Webb, which, with the help of infrared camera sensors, helped scientists determine the age of the galaxy, its distance from Earth and the number of stars.
The task was made no easier by the fact that JD1 lies behind a large cluster of galaxies in a region called Abell 2744, which bends the light from the distant galaxy and makes it appear larger and brighter – a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.
Therefore, it was not possible to examine the first generation of galaxies, which was one of the really big targets among astronomers, until the very powerful space telescope appeared.
Even for the world’s most powerful telescope, spotting the fainter galaxy is out of the ordinary, astronomers say.
says Tommaso Trio, who is the second author of the study In a press release.
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