Found: Most Distant Galaxy Yet, Age 13 Billion Years

This Hubble Photo, full of galaxies, includes a zoomed-in view of the most distant known galaxy, z8_GND_5296.Credit: V. Tilvi (Texas A&M), S. Finkelstein (UT Austin), the CANDELS team, and HST/NASA There’s a reason “astronomical” also means a hugely large amount. Astronomers have found the most distant galaxy yet, one that dates back to just 700 million years after the Big Bang. That means its light traveled for more than 13 billion years, stretching along with an expanding universe, before finally arriving within the researchers’ instruments. Not only is that simply mind-blowingly cool, but the galaxy far, far away is also providing hints about what the early universe was like.