The Discovery of JADES-GS-z14-0

With its suite of infrared instruments, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has fundamentally changed our understanding of extragalactic astronomy by providing an unprecedented view on the first stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters. Most notably, JWST revealed an early period of galaxy formation that was more vigorous than expected based on pre-JWST predictions, finding luminous galaxies and accreting supermassive black holes less than one billion years after the Big Bang. JADES-GS-z14-0 is the best current archetype for this period of early galaxy formation and I helped discover this galaxy with a co-authored publication in Nature (Carniani et al., 2024, Nature, 633, 318). Beyond its extreme redshift, JADES-GS-z14-0 has remarkable rest-frame UV properties: it is exceptionally luminous, relatively red, and spatially resolved. Perhaps the most intriguing property of JADES-GS-z14-0 is my photometric detection at mid-infrared wavelengths using JWST/MIRI with a first-author publication in Nature Astronomy (Helton et al., 2024, Nature Astronomy, accepted). These results suggests rapid mass assembly and metal enrichment less than 300 million years after the Big Bang.

I recently helped out with of a series of blog posts and press releases highlighting the discovery of JADES-GS-z14-0:

• NASA: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Finds Most Distant Known Galaxy
• University of Arizona: Webb Telescope spots the two most distant galaxies ever seen at cosmic dawn
• University of California, Santa Cruz: Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope
• University of Cambridge: Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope
• Harvard University: CfA Astronomers Help Find Most Distant Galaxy Using James Webb Space Telescope
• Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN): James Webb discovers record-distant galaxy, again
• JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES): Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope

These blog posts and press releases were subsequently picked up by major news networks:

• Astronomy Magazine: Webb discovers the earliest known galaxy — for now
• BBC: Earliest and most distant galaxy ever observed
• BBC Sky at Night Magazine: When Webb discovered the most distant galaxy ever seen, existing shortly after the Big Bang during the Cosmic Dawn
• Big Think: 5 big lessons from JWST’s new record-setting galaxy
• CBS News: Earliest and most distant known galaxy spotted by James Webb telescope
• Cosmos Magazine: JWST breaks its own record again for most distant galaxy
• Forbes: ‘Profound’ Moment As Webb Sees Most Distant Galaxy Close To ‘Big Bang’
• London Evening Standard: James Webb Space Telescope spots earliest and most distant galaxies ever seen
• New York Times: Piping Up at the Gates of Dawn – astronomers have found the earliest and most distant galaxy yet
• Reuters: Earliest-known galaxy, spotted by Webb telescope, is a beacon to cosmic dawn
• Scientific American: JWST Detects the Earliest, Most Distant Galaxy in the Known Universe—And It’s Super Weird
• Space.com: James Webb Space Telescope spots the most distant galaxy ever seen
• Yahoo! News: James Webb telescope discovers the 2 earliest galaxies in the known universe — and 1 is shockingly big

I then helped explain how a distant galaxy like JADES-GS-z14-0 can be observed, despite the extreme distance:

• Space.com: Can the James Webb Space Telescope see galaxies over the universe’s horizon?

Finally, the Space Telescope Science Institute created a simulated fly-through visualization to JADES-GS-z14-0 to celebrate its discovery:

• YouTube: JADES GOODS South Fly Through – James Webb Space Telescope