---
title: "Scientists Detect Huge Object, Farther Away Than Anything Else Detected in Universe"
description: "A new study published last week in arXiv reports that researchers found an unidentified object nearly 13.5 billion light-years away in the universe."
date: "2022-04-08"
modified: "2022-04-08"
authors:
  - name: "Lonnie Lee Hood"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/ahood"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/detect-farthers-object-universe"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "galaxy"
  - "james webb space telescope"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Detect Huge Object, Farther Away Than Anything Else Detected in Universe

![A new study published last week in arXiv reports that researchers found an unidentified object nearly 13.5 billion light-years away in the universe.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/detect-farthers-object-universe.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pixabay\</em\>*

## Star Light

Scientists may have glimpsed some of the oldest material in the universe.

According to a new, [yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study](<https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00823>), researchers found an unidentified object nearly 13.5 billion light years away. That's almost the age of the universe itself, [*Live Science* points out](<https://www.livescience.com/farthest-astronomical-object-ever-seen>), meaning the object, dubbed HD1 and which is likely a particularly distant galaxy, represents some of the most ancient stuff out there.

Dr. Avi Loeb, the same Harvard professor who set out to [capture high-res footage of UFOs](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-professor-image-ufo>), worked on the study and told *Live Science* that the object could reveal a lot about early-universe objects and events.

"The first galaxies formed about a hundred million years after the Big Bang," Loeb told the site. "They were a millionth of the mass of the Milky Way and much denser. One way to think of them is as the building blocks in the construction project of present-day galaxies, like our own Milky Way."

## Big Mystery

The scientists aren't quite ready to say exactly what the object is, how old it is, or if it even is a galaxy for sure. In fact, others say there's a chance, although small, that HD1 could be [a giant black hole](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hairy-black-holes-paradox-universe>). Future observations are likely to clarify those questions, fortunately.

"If HD1 is a black hole, we should see X-ray emission from it," Loeb told *Live Science*. "If we do not find X-rays, the emission must originate from massive stars."

Luckily, there's a hardworking new asset we can count on to deliver the goods on the new discovery. According to *Live Science*, researchers hope to get images and details about HD1 from none other than NASA's largest and most powerful new telescope — [the James Webb Space Telescope](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-james-webb-secret-target>).

The telescope launched recently after years of delay — and [more recent internet discourse](<https://futurism.com/nasa-may-rename-james-webb>) — but is finally ready to begin [capturing scientific images](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-image-james-webb>) soon.

And if the mighty Webb can't tell us more about HD1, it's unclear what can.

**More on off-world escapades:** [*SpaceX Successfully Launches First All-Private Mission to the Space Station*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-launches-first-all-private-mission-space-station>)