UNCOVER-z12

UNCOVER-z12 is a high-redshift Lyman-break galaxy discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)^[1] during NIRCam imaging for the JWST Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam Observations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) project^[2] in November 2023. UNCOVER-z12 is within the Abell 2744 supercluster in the constellation Sculptor.^[3] It is the 5th-most distant object ever discovered as of 2024, and is estimated to be 32.21 giga-lightyears from Earth.

UNCOVER-z12
UNCOVER-z12, as seen in November of 2023
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Sculptor
Right ascension	3.57087
Declination	−30.40158
Redshift	12.393
Distance	32.21 gly (estimated)
Characteristics
Type	Lyman-break galaxy

Morphology

UNCOVER-z12 is a Lyman-Break galaxy. Due to the recent discovery date, not much more is known about the galaxy itself.^[3]

Discovery

UNCOVER-z12 was first observed when large amounts of gravitational lensing from Abell 2744 made the galaxy visible. Abell 2744 is around 3.5 billion light-years away from the Milky Way.^[4]

The gravity of Abell 2744 warps the fabric of space-time sufficiently to magnify the light of more faraway galaxies. The James Webb Space Telescope used the gravitational lensing to discover UNCOVER-z12, and further studies of deep galaxies located within Abell 2744 are currently ongoing.^[4]

UNCOVER-z13

UNCOVER-z13 is a second, more far-away galaxy that was located on November 14, 2023, using the same systems.^[5] It has a redshift of 13, making it the 3rd most distant object ever discovered in the observable universe.^[1]

See also

• List of the most distant astronomical objects
• Maisie's Galaxy, another extremely distant galaxy
• GLASS-z12, an extremely distant galaxy with a similar redshift