astronomy

GN-z11

GN-z11 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GN-z11 rather than just read about it. In short: GN-z11 is a high-redshift galaxy discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation Ursa Major. It is among the farthest galaxies from Earth ever found.

Key takeaways

GN-z11 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GN-z11 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GN-z11 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GN-z11 is a high-redshift galaxy discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation Ursa Major. It is among the farthest galaxies from Earth ever found. The 2015 discovery was published in a 2016 paper headed by Pascal Oesch and Gabriel Brammer (Cosmic Dawn Center). Up until the discovery of JADES-GS-z13-0 in 2022 by the James Webb Space Telescope, GN-z11 was the oldest and most distant galaxy yet identified in the observable universe, having a spectroscopic redshift of z = 10.957, which corresponds to a proper distance of approximately 32 billion light-years (9.8 billion parsecs). Data published in 2024 established that the galaxy contains the most distant, and therefore earliest, black hole known in the universe, estimated at around 1.6 million solar masses. The object's name is derived from its location in the GOODS-North field of galaxies and its high cosmological redshift number (GN + z11). It is observed as it existed 13.4 billion years ago, just 400 million years after the Big Bang; as a result, its distance is sometimes inappropriately reported without qualification as 13.4 billion light-years, its light-travel distance measurement. In early 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope observed the galaxy and reported a definitive redshift of z = 10.6034 ± 0.0013. The galaxy has such a high redshift that its angular diameter distance is actually less than that of some galaxies with lower redshift. This means that the ratio of its angular size (how big it appears in the sky) to its size in light-years is greater.

Discovery The galaxy was identified by a team studying data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and Spitzer Space Telescope's Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North (GOODS-North). The research team used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to measure the distance to GN-z11 spectroscopically, measuring the redshift caused by the expansion of the universe. The findings, which were announced in March 2016, revealed the galaxy to be farther away than originally thought, at the distance limit of what the Hubble Telescope can observe. GN-z11 is around 150 million years older than the previous record-holder EGSY8p7, and is observed (shortly after but) "very close to the end of the so-called Dark Ages of the universe", and (during but) "near the very beginning" of the reionization era. Compared with the Milky Way galaxy, GN-z11 is 1⁄25 of the size, has 1% of the mass, and is forming new stars approximately twenty times as fast. With a stellar age estimated at 40 million years, it appears the galaxy formed its stars relatively rapidly. The fact that a galaxy so massive existed so soon after the first stars started to form is a challenge to some current theoretical models of the formation of galaxies.

In 2026, From an ArXiv Pre-Print astronomers using the JWST confirmed the presence of a strong He II emission from a region designated as Hebe, located approximately 3 kiloparsecs from GN-z11. The He II emission is spectrally resolved into two distinct components (C1 and C2), where C1 region is thought to potential contain Population III stars and C2 region to contain Population II stars. Population III stars scenario in taken in consideration due to absent of metal emission lines while other scenarios are also been taken in consideration like metal-poor Wolf-Rayet stars and Direct collapse black hole or Primordial black hole, but Population III star scenario is thought to be the most likely.

See also CEERS-93316 GLASS-z12 HD1 MoM-z14 List of the most distant astronomical objects

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GN-z11

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GN-z11 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GN-z11 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GN-z11 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GN-z11

In research: GN-z11 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GN-z11 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GN-z11 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2016, Dwarf irregular galaxies, Ursa Major, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GN-z11 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “GN-z11” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study GN-z11 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GN-z11 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GN-z11 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GN-z11 in simple terms?

GN-z11 is a high-redshift galaxy discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation Ursa Major. It is among the farthest galaxies from Earth ever found.

Why does GN-z11 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GN-z11?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GN-z11.