Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have found a galaxy that offers new data about the early stages of the universe’s existence. The latest discovery which astronomers shared about a bright galaxy called MoM-z14. According to the team, this galaxy existed 280 million years after the Big Bang.

That sounds like a long time ago, but in the context of the universe’s estimated 13.8 billion years of existence, that’s actually one of the closest examples astronomers have found of the Big Bang event. As a result, MoM-z14 can provide some insights and some surprises about what the early stages of the universe involved.

“With Webb, we will be able to see further than people ever have, and it is like what we predicted, which is both challenging and exciting,” lead author Rohan Naidu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said. Findings about this galaxy were published in Open Journal of Astrophysics.

Scientists were able to date Webb’s MoM-z14 Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument, analyzing how light from the galaxy changes wavelengths as it travels to reach the telescope. One of the first questions raised by this bright galaxy centered on the presence of nitrogen. Some early galaxies, including MoM-z14, reveal higher concentrations of nitrogen than scientists thought possible. Another topic of interest is about reionization, or the process of stars producing enough light or energy to penetrate the dense hydrogen fog that existed in the early universe.

“This is an incredibly exciting time, with Webb revealing the early Universe like never before and showing us how much more there is to discover,” said Pennsylvania State University graduate student and team member Yijia Li.