Astronomers Find a Cosmic Surprise in the Galaxy

Astronomers have discovered an evolved galaxy appearing as orderly as contemporary galaxies like the Milky Way, but at a period considered the universe’s toddler era! This finding compels cosmologists to reconsider their notions about galaxy evolution.

“According to our understanding of galaxy formation, we expect most early galaxies to be small and messy looking,” explains Jacqueline Hodge, co-author of the paper at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The REBELS-25 galaxy was fully formed some 700 million years after the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago. The James Webb Space Telescope’s images are another piece of mounting evidence that a galaxy as elegant as the Milky Way requires billions of years of evolution. Like the Milky Way, REBELS-25 has a rotating disk and spiral arms and is believed to be the most distant rotating disk galaxy. Further studies will be conducted on the ancient galaxy to confirm its central elongated bar and spiral arms. REBELS-25 beats the record holder of the earliest galaxy discovered last year through NASA’s Webb telescope. Indeed, Ceers-2112 is believed to have formed 2 billion years after the Big Bang.