NASA's James Webb Telescope has discovered the oldest galaxy in the universe that existed 13.5 billion years ago, and it was called "GN-z13", or "Glass-Z13". GLASS-z13).

According to a report by Science Alert, the history of this galaxy dates back to 300 million years after the Big Bang, about 100 million years before the previous record for the oldest galaxy in the universe, which was held by the galaxy "GN- GN-z11, discovered by the Hubble telescope in 2015, dates back to 400 million years after the birth of the universe.

The oldest galaxy previously discovered was the GN-Z11 galaxy by the Hubble Telescope in 2015 (NASA)

red spot with white heart

This discovery comes after an international team of scientists led by the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, USA, analyzed the data contained in the images of the James Webb Space Telescope.

The galaxy GN-Z13, which looks like a red spot with a white heart, was found using the NIRCam Infrared Camera (NIRCam), on board the James Webb Space Telescope, which is capable of detecting light from the oldest stars and galaxies.

The James Webb telescope uses a wide range of infrared light to see the "past time", and this is done by analyzing the time it takes for the light to travel through space.

When the galaxy is translated from infrared radiation into the visible spectrum, it appears as a red patch with white in its center, as part of a larger picture of the distant universe called the "deep field".

Nircam can detect light from the oldest stars and galaxies (Wikimedia)

Characteristics of the discovered galaxy

Scientists at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have found that the diameter of the galaxy "GN-z13" is about 1,600 light-years, which makes it a "very small galaxy", compared to our galaxy "Milky Way", which is about 100,000 in diameter. Light year.

During the investigation in the region of the galaxy "GN-Z13", the James Webb telescope also monitored the galaxy "GN-Z11", which was previously discovered by the Hubble telescope in 2015, and was considered the oldest galaxy in the universe.

Scientists noted that although both galaxies are ancient, each galaxy is very small, in addition, both of them have a mass equivalent to a billion suns, because they were formed shortly after the Big Bang, and this happened when galaxies were growing and devouring stars in Region.

Although the galaxy "GN-Z13" existed in the oldest age of the universe, its exact age is still unknown, as it could have formed at any time during the first 300 million years.

It is hoped that the James Webb Telescope will find the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang (Wikimedia)

Scientists hope that James Webb will help measure the exact age of the discovered galaxy “GN-Z13” and its mass, which is very large, compared to the mass of galaxies that appeared almost immediately after the Big Bang, as it is hoped that the James Webb telescope will find the first galaxies. formed after the Big Bang.