NASA captures for the first time 4 objects that travel through space 13.4 billion years, the oldest in the universe

The James Webb Space Telescope has set a new record by reaching into the universe when it was just 2% of its current age and capturing images of the oldest galaxies ever seen.

Studying James Webs data, an international team of researchers identified four galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 400 million years old, located more than 13.4 billion light years away.

When observing an object at such a distance, the number 13.4 billion light years is both the age of the object and the time it takes for light from that object to reach Earth. Therefore, what James Webb helps us see is also a "time-traveling" image from 13.4 billion years ago , when these galaxies were young. Maybe they have died out or changed greatly in the present.

Close-up of the four oldest objects ever seen by mankind - (Photo: NASA/ESA/CSA).

"It was important to prove that the galaxies James Webb recorded really resided in the early universe. It is very possible that nearby galaxies would 'masquerade' as very distant galaxies. Seeing the spectra revealed, we hoped and confirmed. Some are farther away than Hubble can see. It is an extremely exciting achievement for the mission," said astronomer Emma Curtis-Lake from the University of Hertfordshire (UK), a co-author.

To capture that precious image, James Webb and the team behind the JADES mission aimed at galaxies in ultra-deep space peered once again into the area in and around Hubble's Ultra Deep Field.

Thanks to the sharper images, distant galaxies have begun to appear. 250 faint galaxies have been filtered out to study and identify the oldest ones. Four that are over 13.4 billion years old have been identified.

The early universe that Hubble and James Webb explored together - (Photo: NASA/ESA/CSA)

According to co-author Brant Robertson from the University of California at Santa Cruz (USA), the oldest galaxy in the cluster could have appeared just 330 million years after the Big Bang that created the universe.

"It's hard to understand galaxies without understanding their early stages of development. Just like humans, a lot of what happens later depends on these first generations. Many questions about galaxies await James Webb," explained co-author Sandro Tacchella, from the University of Cambridge (UK).

James Webb is the world's most advanced super telescope, successfully deployed this year, built and operated by NASA of the US, with the collaboration of European and Canadian space agencies ESA and CSA.

Before James Webb, the "king" of telescopes belonged to Hubble for more than 3 decades of operation, also operated mainly by NASA, with the cooperation of ESA.