A Cosmic Miracle: A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at z spec = 14.44 Confirmed with JWST

JWST has revealed a stunning population of bright galaxies at surprisingly early epochs, z > 10 , where few such sources were expected. Here we present the most distant example of this class yet – MoM-z14, a luminous () source in the COSMOS legacy field at that expands the observational frontier to a mere 280 million years after the Big Bang. The redshift is confirmed with NIRSpec/prism spectroscopy through a sharp Lyman- α break and ≈ 3 σ detections of five rest-UV emission lines. The number density of bright sources implied by our “Mirage or Miracle” survey spanning ≈ 350 arcmin is > 100 × larger ( 182 − 105 + 329 × ) than pre-JWST consensus models. The high EWs of UV lines…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 200020, 207349
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Awards: 5-03127, NAS 5-03127, NAS5-26555, HST-HF2-51515.001-A
• ST
  Space Telescope Science Institute

  Awards: NAS5-26555, 5-03127, 26555, HST-HF2-51515.001-A, NAS 5-03127
• UR
  UK Research and Innovation

  Award: MR/V023381/1
• EC
  European Commission

  Awards: 101076224, 101071865
• NR
  National Research Foundation
• AN
  Agence Nationale de la Recherche

  Award: ANR-24-CE31-0838
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 26555, 200020, 207349, 200020 207349
• DG
  Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
• CN
  Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
• CN
  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• JS
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

  Award: 23H00131
• SF
  Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
• IN
  Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules