JADES-GS-z14-0

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JADES-GS-z14-0
JADES-GS-z14-0 NASA.png
JADES-GS-z14-0 appears as a red blob highlighted by an arrow in this image by NIRCam. The white object at its upper left is a foreground galaxy designated as NIRCam ID 183349 at z = 3.475.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Fornax
Right ascension 03h 32m 36.89s
Declination −27° 46′ 49.33″
Redshift 14.32+0.08
−0.20
Characteristics
Type Lyman-break galaxy
Half-light radius  (physical)260 ± 20 pc
Half-light radius  (apparent)0.079 arcsec

JADES-GS-z14-0 is a high-redshift Lyman-Break galaxy in the constellation Fornax that was discovered in 2024 using NIRCam as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. [1] [2] It has a redshift of 14.32, making it the most distant galaxy and astronomical object ever discovered. This redshift corresponds to a time about 13.5 billion years ago, approximately 300 million years after the Big Bang, or about 2% of its current age. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Discovery

JADES-GS-z14-0 was observed using the James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in 2024, [6] and it measured a redshift of 14.32. [7] Its age, size, and luminosity added to a growing body of evidence that current theories of early star and galaxy formation are incomplete. [8]

A larger study using JWST NIRCam "Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density 300 Myr after the Big Bang" (Robertson et al. 2024) gave JADES-GS-z14-0 a photometric redshift of z=14.39+0.23
−0.09. [9]

Characteristics

JADES-GS-z14-0 is 1,600 light years wide and very luminous. [8] Spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of strong ionized gas emissions, including hydrogen and oxygen. [7]

Further observations

A composite showing observations from JWST MIRI and NIRCam published 2025. JWST-MIRI-JADES-GS-z14-0.png
A composite showing observations from JWST MIRI and NIRCam published 2025.

The initial identification of JADES-GS-z14-0 came from imaging data obtained with JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The high-redshift hypothesis was confirmed through multiple spectroscopic observations with NIRSpec. Additionally, observations using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) detected the galaxy at longer wavelengths, which support the extreme distance at which JADES-GS-z14-0 is located. [7]

In March 2025, a study "Photometric detection at 7.7 μm of a galaxy beyond redshift 14 with JWST/MIRI" (Helton et al. 2025) was published which described JWST observations of JADES-GS-z14-0 that had used MIRI and NIRCam . [10] MIRI observes at longer optical wavelengths, which lead to stronger rest-frame emission lines that are highly diagnostic and accessible at mid-infrared wavelengths. The study outlines the theory that JADES-GS-z14-0 contained half a billion solar masses, with strong star formation in the previous few million of years. Quoting: "The properties of JADES-GS-z14-0 add to the evidence that a population of luminous and massive galaxies was already in place less than 300 Myr after the Big Bang, with number densities more than ten times higher than extrapolations based on pre-JWST observations." [10] [6]

Discovery of Oxygen

This is an artist's impression of JADES-GS-z14-0 from the European Southern Observatory website. Artist's impression of JADES-GS-z14-0.png
This is an artist’s impression of JADES-GS-z14-0 from the European Southern Observatory website.

In March 2025, astronomers reported the detection of oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0, marking the most distant observation of this element to date. This discovery was achieved using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile's Atacama Desert. The presence of oxygen suggests that the galaxy underwent rapid formation and chemical maturation, challenging previous assumptions about the timeline of heavy element production in the early Universe. [11]

The detection of oxygen also allowed for a more precise measurement of the galaxy's distance, with an uncertainty of just 0.005%. This level of accuracy enhances our understanding of the properties of distant galaxies and underscores the synergy between ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in studying the early universe. [11]

The two associated studies by S. Carniani et al. (2025) and S. Schouws et al. (2025) give a spectroscopic redshift of z=14.1793 ± 0.0007 using ALMA, [12] [13] which is consistent with the tentative detection by S. Carniani et al. (2024) of carbon at redshift z=14.178 ± 0.013 using JWST. [2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cesari, Thaddeus (2024-05-30). "NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Finds Most Distant Known Galaxy". James Webb Space Telescope. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  2. 1 2 Carniani, Stefano; Hainline, Kevin; D'Eugenio, Francesco; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Jakobsen, Peter; Witstok, Joris; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Chevallard, Jacopo; Maiolino, Roberto; Helton, Jakob M.; Willott, Chris; Robertson, Brant; Alberts, Stacey; Arribas, Santiago; Baker, William M.; Bhatawdekar, Rachana; Boyett, Kristan; Bunker, Andrew J.; Cameron, Alex J.; Cargile, Phillip A.; Charlot, Stéphane; Curti, Mirko; Curtis-Lake, Emma; Egami, Eiichi; Giardino, Giovanna; Isaak, Kate; Ji, Zhiyuan; Jones, Gareth C.; Maseda, Michael V.; Parlanti, Eleonora; Rawle, Tim; Rieke, George; Rieke, Marcia; Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez; Saxena, Aayush; Scholtz, Jan; Smit, Renske; Sun, Fengwu; Tacchella, Sandro; Übler, Hannah; Venturi, Giacomo; Williams, Christina C.; Willmer, Christopher N. A. (28 May 2024). "Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at a redshift of 14". Nature. 633 (8029): 318–322. arXiv: 2405.18485 . Bibcode:2024Natur.633..318C. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07860-9. PMC   11390484 . PMID   39074505.
  3. ↑ Gough, Evab (11 March 2025). "This Precocious Galaxy is Surprisingly Mature for its Age". Universe Today . Retrieved 30 March 2025. about 13.5 billion years ago
  4. ↑ "Oxygen discovered in most distant known galaxy" (Press release). ESO. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2025. when the Universe was less than 300 million years old, about 2% of its present age
  5. ↑ Amos, Jonathan (31 May 2024). "Earliest and most distant galaxy ever observed". BBC . Retrieved 30 March 2025. 290 million years after the Big Bang ... the cosmos was only 2% of its current age
  6. 1 2 Todd, Iain (27 September 2024). "When Webb discovered the most distant galaxy ever seen, existing shortly after the Big Bang during the Cosmic Dawn". Sky at Night Magazine . Our Media. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 Lea, Robert (2024-05-30). "James Webb Space Telescope spots the most distant galaxy ever seen (image)". Space.com . Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  8. 1 2 Overbye, Dennis (2024-06-22). "Piping Up at the Gates of Dawn" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  9. ↑ Brant Robertson; Benjamin D. Johnson; Sandro Tacchella; Daniel J. Eisenstein; Kevin Hainline; Santiago Arribas; William M. Baker; Andrew J. Bunker; Stefano Carniani; Phillip A. Cargile; Courtney Carreira; Stephane Charlot; Jacopo Chevallard; Mirko Curti; Emma Curtis-Lake; Francesco D’Eugenio; Eiichi Egami; Ryan Hausen; Jakob M. Helton; Peter Jakobsen; Zhiyuan Ji; Gareth C. Jones; Roberto Maiolino; Michael V. Maseda; Erica Nelson; Pablo G. Pérez-González; Dávid Puskás; Marcia Rieke; Renske Smit; Fengwu Sun; Hannah Übler; Lily Whitler (12 July 2024). "Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density 300Myr after the Big Bang". The Astrophysical Journal . 970 (1): 5. arXiv: 2312.10033 . Bibcode:2024ApJ...970...31R. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad463d .
  10. 1 2 Jakob M. Helton; George H. Rieke; Stacey Alberts; Zihao Wu; Daniel J. Eisenstein; Kevin N. Hainline; Stefano Carniani; Zhiyuan Ji; William M. Baker; Rachana Bhatawdekar; Andrew J. Bunker; Phillip A. Cargile; Stéphane Charlot; Jacopo Chevallard; Francesco D’Eugenio; Eiichi Egami; Benjamin D. Johnson; Gareth C. Jones; Jianwei Lyu; Roberto Maiolino; Pablo G. Pérez-González; Marcia J. Rieke; Brant Robertson; Aayush Saxena; Jan Scholtz; Irene Shivaei; Fengwu Sun; Sandro Tacchella; Lily Whitler; Christina C. Williams; Christopher N. A. Willmer; Chris Willott; Joris Witstok; Yongda Zhu (7 March 2025). "Photometric detection at 7.7 μm of a galaxy beyond redshift 14 with JWST/MIRI". Nature Astronomy : 16. arXiv: 2405.18462v3 . Bibcode:2025NatAs.tmp...66H. doi: 10.1038/s41550-025-02503-z . Retrieved 30 March 2025.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bibcode (link)
  11. 1 2 information@eso.org. "Oxygen discovered in most distant known galaxy". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  12. ↑ Stefano Carniani; Francesco D’Eugenio; Xihan Ji; Eleonora Parlanti; Jan Scholtz; Fengwu Sun; Giacomo Venturi; Tom J. L. C. Bakx; Mirko Curti; Roberto Maiolino; Sandro Tacchella; Jorge A. Zavala; Kevin Hainline; Joris Witstok; Benjamin D. Johnson; Stacey Alberts; Andrew J. Bunker; Stéphane Charlot; Daniel J. Eisenstein; Jakob M. Helton; Peter Jakobsen; Nimisha Kumari; Brant Robertson; Aayush Saxena; Hannah Übler; Christina C. Williams; Christopher N. A. Willmer; Chris Willott (12 March 2025). "The eventful life of a luminous galaxy at z = 14: metal enrichment, feedback, and low gas fraction?" (PDF). Astronomy & Astrophysics . arXiv: 2409.20533v2 . doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202452451 . Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  13. ↑ Sander Schouws; Rychard J. Bouwens; Katherine Ormerod; Renske Smit; Hiddo Algera; Laura Sommovigo; Jacqueline Hodge; Andrea Ferrara; Pascal A. Oesch; Lucie E. Rowland; Ivana van Leeuwen; Mauro Stefanon; Thomas Herard-Demanche; Yoshinobu Fudamoto; Huub Rottgering; Paul van der Werf (17 March 2025). "Detection of [OIII]88µm in JADES-GS-z14-0 at z=14.1793" (PDF). arXiv: 2409.20549 . Retrieved 4 April 2025. The ALMA detection yields a spectroscopic redshift of z = 14.1793±0.0007
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