The Farthest Thing We’ve Ever Seen Is a Galaxy From the Dawn of Time

The galaxy GN-z11 is so far away that we see it as it was just 400 million years after the Big Bang—over 13 billion years ago—and for years it held the distance record. Because light takes time to travel, looking at distant galaxies is like looking back in time. The James Webb Space Telescope has since pushed even further: the galaxy MoM-z14 is seen just 280 million years after the Big Bang. These ancient galaxies challenge our understanding of how quickly the first stars and galaxies formed.