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JADES-GS-z13-1 in the GOODS-S field (NIRCam Image)

A two panel image. At left, hundreds of tiny galaxies are scattered across the black background of space. A small portion of the sky near the bottom is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corners of the box to the right panel. At right, a small red dot at the middle is highlighted with white lines and labeled redshift z = 13. At upper left, a face-on spiral galaxy is labeled z = 0.63. At lower right, an edge-on spiral galaxy is labeled z = 0.70. A handful of other small background galaxies are seen against the black background of space. At lower right, the panel is labeled JADES-GS-z-13-1.

The incredibly distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed just 330 million years after the big bang, was initially discovered with deep imaging from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). Now, an international team of astronomers definitively has identified powerful hydrogen emission from this galaxy at an unexpectedly early period in the universe’s history. JADES-GS-z-13 has a redshift (z) of 13, which is an indication of its age and distance.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03:32:36.89
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -27:46:49.33
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Fornax
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Main image is about 6.2 arcminutes across

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 1180 (D. Eisenstein)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    29 Sept. - 10 Oct. 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F090W, F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F410M, F444W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), JADES-GS-z13-1
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    High-redshift galaxy
  • Release Date
    March 26, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Sees Galaxy Mysteriously Clearing Fog of Early Universe
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, JADES Collaboration, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA), Joris Witstok (Cambridge, University of Copenhagen), P. Jakobsen (University of Copenhagen), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)

Downloads

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    tif (35.98 MB)
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    jpg (16.26 MB)
  • 2000 × 1012
    png (2.31 MB)
A two panel image. At left, hundreds of tiny galaxies are scattered across the black background of space. A small portion of the sky near the bottom is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corners of the box to the right panel. At right, a small red dot at the middle is highlighted with white lines and labeled redshift z = 13. At upper left, a face-on spiral galaxy is labeled z = 0.63. At lower right, an edge-on spiral galaxy is labeled z = 0.70. A handful of other small background galaxies are seen against the black background of space. At lower right, the panel is labeled JADES-GS-z-13-1.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F090W + F115W + F150W Green: F200W + F277W Red: F356W + F410M + F444W

Related Images & Videos

A small red dot is in the middle of the image. To its upper left is a face-on spiral galaxy, and to its lower right is an edge-on spiral galaxy. A handful of other small background galaxies are seen against the black background of space.

JADES-GS-z13-1 (NIRCam Close-Up)

This image shows the galaxy JADES GS-z13-1 (the red dot at center), imaged with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. These data from NIRCam allowed researchers to identify...

A graph labeled “JADES-GS-Z13-1, The Onset of Reionization, NIRSpec, PRISM.” The x-axis is labeled “Wavelength of Light, microns” and extends from about 0.5 microns to 4.0 microns, with tick marks every 0.5 microns from 1.0 to 4.0. The y-axis is labeled “Brightness” and has a horizontal, dashed line about a third of the way up from the bottom. An up arrow is labeled “brighter” at the top of the y-axis, and a down arrow is labeled “dimmer.” A jagged blue line runs horizontally across the graph. It fluctuates above and below the dashed line until reaching a wavelength of about 1.7 microns, at which point it peaks before gradually decreasing again, and going just below the dashed line. The wavelength where the emission peaks has an arrow pointing down labeled “Lyman-alpha emission, z = 13.05.”

JADES-GS-z13-1 Spectrum Graphic

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected unexpected light from a distant galaxy. The galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed just 330 million years after the big bang (corresponding to a redshift of z=13.05), shows bright emission from hydrogen known as Lyman-alpha emission. This...

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Details

Last Updated
Nov 14, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, JADES Collaboration, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA), Joris Witstok (Cambridge, University of Copenhagen), P. Jakobsen (University of Copenhagen), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)

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