a problematic phrase

I've just come across the below sentence at BBC website and am wondering what the last phrase 'though only just' means in this case. Put me in the picture, please :)

"These objects are so faraway, their starlight started its journey across the cosmos just under 13 billion years ago. The camera catches them as they were at that early time - though only just."

These objects are being viewed with great difficulty from many light years away. Because of the time it takes for the light to come to the telescope, this means that the objects being viewed are very old. They are objects from the beginning of time, the birth of the universe. We are very fortunate to be able to receive these signals, and it is difficult to capture these signals.

Did the article really say "faraway", or did you copy that incorrectly? It should be "far away".

Honestly I'm not sure what the writer is implying with "though only just". But I do know that science reporting by the BBC and other news organizations is notoriously inaccurate, oversimplified and sensationalized, so you should just avoid it in the first place.

Thanks for your replies. So that phrase still remains unclear. Oh, and I copied the whole sentence so 'faraway' must've been the journalist's bad spelling.

Lazar, do you think, then, the BBC is no good for learning English ?

It's no good for learning science .... on that I do have to agree with Lazar. English is another matter.