--- title: NASA Finds Giant Galaxy Cluster 8.5 Billion Light-Years Away description: It is the most massive structure ever found such a long distance from Earth canonical: https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-04T22:26:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:19:15.712Z article:section: Science og:title: See the Giant Cluster of Galaxies NASA Just Discovered og:description: It's 8.5 billion light-years away og:url: https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1bdd958ba3ef03/69886f67cd1bba20246fdece/galaxy-cluster-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 900 og:image:height: 506 og:image:alt: NASA Galaxy Cluster og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Giant Cluster of Galaxies NASA Just Discovered twitter:description: It's 8.5 billion light-years away twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1bdd958ba3ef03/69886f67cd1bba20246fdece/galaxy-cluster-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Giant Cluster of Galaxies NASA Just Discovered > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 4, 2015 10:26 PM UTC  The galaxy cluster called MOO J1142+1527 can be seen here as it existed when light left it 8.5 billion years ago. The galaxy cluster called MOO J1142+1527 can be seen here as it existed when light left it 8.5 billion years ago. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Gemini/CARMA  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 4, 2015 10:26 PM UTC NASA telescopes have spotted a galaxy cluster 8.5 billion light-years away, the space agency [announced](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4762&utm%5Fsource=iContact&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=NASAJPL&utm%5Fcontent=spitzer20151103) Tuesday. It is the most massive structure ever found such a long distance from Earth. The space agency explains a galaxy cluster is a group of thousands of galaxies, each of which contain hundreds of billions of stars, and grow bigger over time. Because light takes time to reach earth, scientists can see these objects as if they were in the past. NASA is now watching this galaxy cluster called Massive Overdense Object (MOO) J1142+1527 as it was 8.5 billion years ago, long before the Earth formed. “Based on our understanding of how galaxy clusters grow from the very beginning of our universe, this cluster should be one of the five most massive in existence at that time,” Peter Eisenhardt, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a post on NASA’s [website](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4762&utm%5Fsource=iContact&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=NASAJPL&utm%5Fcontent=spitzer20151103). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/"},"headline":"See the Giant Cluster of Galaxies NASA Just Discovered","datePublished":"2015-11-04T22:26:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:19:15.712Z","description":"It's 8.5 billion light-years away","url":"https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1bdd958ba3ef03/69886f67cd1bba20246fdece/galaxy-cluster-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1bdd958ba3ef03/69886f67cd1bba20246fdece/galaxy-cluster-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASA Galaxy Cluster","caption":"NASA Galaxy Cluster","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech/Gemini/CARMA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4098873/see-the-giant-cluster-of-galaxies-nasa-just-discovered/","name":"See the Giant Cluster of Galaxies NASA Just Discovered"}}]}] ```