A Galaxy Far, Far Away

A: A galaxy called GN-z11 was reported by NASA in 2016 to be about 13.4 billion light-years away, based on the spectroscopic components of the light signal reaching the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide-Field Camera 3.

This distance has grown to what is called a proper distance of about 32 billion light-years, because of the expansion of the universe in the time it took the galaxy’s light to reach the telescope.

In reporting the discovery, NASA said that observations of objects at even greater distances are anticipated when the agency launches the James Webb Space Telescope, now delayed until late March 2021. It will carry a battery of highly sensitive instruments.