MoM-z14, as of June 2025, is the farthest known

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

discovered in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

with a redshift of z = 14.44 placing the galaxy's formation about 280 million years after the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

. As part of the cosmic timeline, MoM-z14 would have been formed during the Reionization Era of the early universe, when neutral

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

began

ionizing Ionization or ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule i ...

due to radiated energy from the earliest celestial objects. MoM-z14 is a remarkably luminous and compact galaxy. It has a mass of 10⁸ solar masses making it similar in mass to the

Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D25 isophotal diameter of about , and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 bill ...

(SMC). It is currently going through a time of high

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...

giving off lots of ionizing photons which travel through a virtually dust free

interstellar medium The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It f ...

(ISM). The surroundings of MoM-z14 are partially ionized.

Discovery

It was discovered on 16 May 2025 by

Rohan Naidu Rohan may refer to: People and characters * Duke of Rohan * The House of Rohan, a family of French nobility from Morbihan * Rohan (name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Rohan Places France * ...

with the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

(JWST). Prior to the JWST, there were no telescopes with large enough mirrors to detect light coming from these distant galaxies. The Spitzer telescope was an

infrared telescope An infrared telescope is a telescope that uses infrared light to detect celestial bodies. Infrared light is one of several types of radiation present in the electromagnetic spectrum. All celestial objects with a temperature above absolute zero ...

but was not large enough to detect MoM-z14. With the James Webb Space Telescope size and primary mission to study the assembly of galaxies, MoM-z14 was able to be detected.

References

{{reflist Galaxies Sextans