May 2024
JADES-GS-z14-0: the most distant known galaxy
Webb confirmed a galaxy at redshift z=14.32, seen as it was just 290 million years after the Big Bang.
The James Webb Space Telescope confirmed JADES-GS-z14-0 as the most distant known galaxy, with a spectroscopic redshift of 14.32. We are seeing this galaxy as it existed when the Universe was less than 300 million years old, only 2% of its current age. The galaxy is surprisingly bright and massive for its early epoch, challenging models of how galaxies could grow so quickly after the Big Bang.
May 2023
Water vapor detected around a rocky exoplanet
Webb observations suggest GJ 486 b may have a steam atmosphere, though stellar contamination is also possible.
NIRSpec observations of the rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b showed signs of water vapor either in a planetary atmosphere or in starspots on the host star. If the water signal is from the planet, it would mark the first detection of an atmosphere around a rocky world outside our Solar System.
October 2022
New view of the Pillars of Creation
Webb's near-infrared cameras revealed thousands of newly forming stars hidden inside the famous dust pillars.
Webb's NIRCam image of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula stripped away the dust that hides newborn stars from optical telescopes. The result is one of the most detailed views ever taken of an active stellar nursery, showing both the dense pillars and the protostars forming within them.
August 2022
First clear detection of CO2 in an exoplanet atmosphere
Webb's NIRSpec detected carbon dioxide in WASP-39b, a hot gas giant 700 light-years away.
In August 2022 Webb announced the first definitive detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System. The hot gas giant WASP-39b was observed using the NIRSpec instrument as it transited its host star, allowing astronomers to fingerprint molecules in the planet's atmosphere through transmission spectroscopy. The detection demonstrated Webb's ability to characterize exoplanet atmospheres in unprecedented detail.