Seeking the earliest galaxies in the universe

Light from the stars in early galaxies has stretched with the expansion of the universe, becoming dimmer and redder over time—a phenomenon known as cosmological redshift. The James Webb Space Telescope, designed to detect the red and infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, is uncovering earlier galaxies than ever seen before.

TODAY

13.7 billion years ago

Hubble telescope

The Big Bang

Range of observations

JWST

Age of the universe (billion years)

13.3

13.2

13.4

13.266

13.395

13.374

13.330

GS-z13-0

GS-z12-0

GS-z11-0

GS-z10-0

Early galaxies confirmed by JWST

13.307

Photographs by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) using JWST’s NIRCam instrument

Early galaxy confirmed by Hubble: GN-z11

Diana Marques, NGM Staff

Sources: NASA; ESA; STScI; E. L. Wright,

A Cosmology Calculator for the World Wide Web, 2006

Seeking the earliest galaxies in the universe

Light from the stars in early galaxies has stretched with the expansion of the universe, becoming dimmer and redder over time—a phenomenon known as cosmological redshift.

The James Webb Space Telescope, designed to detect the red and infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, is uncovering earlier galaxies than ever seen before.

Hubble Telescope

JWST

TODAY

Range of observations

13.7 billion years ago

Age of the

universe

(billion years)

Early galaxies

confirmed

by JWST