James Webb Space Telescope finds the faintest galaxy ever detected at the dawn of the universe

A telescope image of distant galaxies, showing thousands of bright stars and galaxies on a black background. In a zoomed-in box is the pale, faint galaxy detected in this new study.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has identified one of the most distant galaxies ever seen — an ancient, nearly invisible star cluster so remote that its light is the faintest scientists have ever detected.

Called JD1, the galaxy — whose light traveled for roughly 13.3 billion years to reach us — was born just a few million years after the Big Bang. Back then, the cosmos was shrouded in a pitch-black fog that not even light could pass through; galaxies like this one were vital in burning the gloom away.