JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE SPOTS THE EARLIEST KNOWN SATELLITE
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the earliest-known galaxy, one that is surprisingly bright and big considering it formed during the universe’s infancy — at only 2% its current age.
WHO DISCOVERED IT?
The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers, who used JWST to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. The study was published online last week ahead of formal peer review.
ABOUT THE DISCOVERED GALAXY
This galaxy, called JADES-GS-z14-0, measures about 1,700-light years across. The Galaxy is very Bright.
WHAT IS A LIGHT YEAR?
A light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is 9.5 trillion km. The galaxy has a mass equivalent to 500 million stars the size of our Sun and is rapidly forming new stars — about 20 every year.
ABOUT JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JULY)
One of the goals of JWST was to search for first galaxies or luminous objects formed after Big Bang along with other goals of determining how galaxies evolved, observing stars formation etc.
JWST, NASA’s infrared flagship observatory, is an international collaboration between NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency.
It is placed in Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2).
COMPARISON BETWEEN JWST & HUBBLE
| HUBBLE | JWST | |
| Distance from Earth | 507 km | 1.5 Million km |
| Primary Mirror Diameter | 2.4 metre | 6.5 metre |
| Searching for | Young galaxies | Young & New born galaxies |
| Serviceable | Yes | No |
| Wavelength | Visible, UV, Part of near infrared | Near & mid infrared. |
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