The galaxy MoM-z14 dates back to 280 million years after the big bang, and the prevalence of such early galaxies is puzzling astronomers Astronomers have confirmed that a distant galaxy spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the earliest ever seen, giving us a window on galaxy formation when the universe was in its infancy. The continual discovery of bright galaxies so early in the universe points to a much higher abundance of galaxies after the big bang – at least 100 times more – than was expected before JWST launched.