JWST was able to observe galaxies located at incredible distances. The furthest so far was announced last year and has now been confirmed. MoM-z14 is currently the most distant known galaxy.

According to, MoM means “Mirage or Miracle” (Mirage or Miracle), coming from the research with the same name.

MoM research aims to confirm whether objects that appear to be very far away actually exist or not. The MoM-z14’s light comes from 280 million years after the Big Bangreally at a time when models suggested that galaxies were just forming.

The discovery of MoM-z14 and other examples of surprisingly bright galaxies in the early universe is put these models into question. These galaxies are 100 times brighter than theoretical studies predicted, suggesting that they were extremely active and aging rapidly.

“There is a growing gap between theory and observation related to the early universe, which presents compelling questions to be explored in the future,” said the team member. Jacob Shenpostdoctoral researcher at MIT, in a statement.

An interesting discovery of MoM-z14 is the presence of nitrogenmore than was possible to produce at that time, which suggests that conditions in the early universe may have been different than previously thought, and perhaps to understand these distant stars we must observe the peculiar ones in our own galaxy.

The MoM-z14 also shows signs of the thick fog dissipating of neutral hydrogen believed to exist throughout the universe at that time. The powerful light from these intriguing stars has been crucial to this.

Dissipation occurs when light strips electrons from hydrogen atoms, ionizing them. Considering that hydrogen in the universe formed without electrons, and that this is the second time this has happened, this period is known as the time of reionization.

The study of galaxies from that time may provide more clues about this mysterious period in the history of the universe. But they are difficult to find, hence the MoM research. Due to the expansion of the universe, the light from these galaxies is stretched into longer wavelengths, so these objects appear redder.

But objects can appear redder for other reasons, so these candidates need to be followed up with a spectrograph, which can confirm how much the light has been redshifted, thus providing a value of how far away it is.

“We can estimate the distance of galaxies from images, but it is very important to follow up and confirm with more detailed spectroscopy so we know exactly what we are seeing and when,” he added. Pascal Oeschfrom the University of Geneva, Switzerland, co-principal investigator of the study.

The study will be published no Open Journal of Astrophysicsand a preprint version is currently on arXiv.

JWST was able to observe galaxies located at incredible distances. The furthest so far was announced last year and has now been confirmed. MoM-z14 is currently the most distant known galaxy.

According to, MoM means “Mirage or Miracle” (Mirage or Miracle), coming from the research with the same name.

MoM research aims to confirm whether objects that appear to be very far away actually exist or not. The MoM-z14’s light comes from 280 million years after the Big Bangreally at a time when models suggested that galaxies were just forming.

The discovery of MoM-z14 and other examples of surprisingly bright galaxies in the early universe is put these models into question. These galaxies are 100 times brighter than theoretical studies predicted, suggesting that they were extremely active and aging rapidly.

“There is a growing gap between theory and observation related to the early universe, which presents compelling questions to be explored in the future,” said the team member. Jacob Shenpostdoctoral researcher at MIT, in a statement.

An interesting discovery of MoM-z14 is the presence of nitrogenmore than was possible to produce at that time, which suggests that conditions in the early universe may have been different than previously thought, and perhaps to understand these distant stars we must observe the peculiar ones in our own galaxy.

The MoM-z14 also shows signs of the thick fog dissipating of neutral hydrogen believed to exist throughout the universe at that time. The powerful light from these intriguing stars has been crucial to this.

Dissipation occurs when light strips electrons from hydrogen atoms, ionizing them. Considering that hydrogen in the universe formed without electrons, and that this is the second time this has happened, this period is known as the time of reionization.

The study of galaxies from that time may provide more clues about this mysterious period in the history of the universe. But they are difficult to find, hence the MoM research. Due to the expansion of the universe, the light from these galaxies is stretched into longer wavelengths, so these objects appear redder.

But objects can appear redder for other reasons, so these candidates need to be followed up with a spectrograph, which can confirm how much the light has been redshifted, thus providing a value of how far away it is.

“We can estimate the distance of galaxies from images, but it is very important to follow up and confirm with more detailed spectroscopy so we know exactly what we are seeing and when,” he added. Pascal Oeschfrom the University of Geneva, Switzerland, co-principal investigator of the study.

The study will be published no Open Journal of Astrophysicsand a preprint version is currently on arXiv.