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Discovery of Zhúlóng Galaxy Challenges Early Universe Models

The James Webb Space Telescope has identified a massive, Milky Way-like spiral galaxy formed just 1 billion years after the Big Bang, reshaping theories of galaxy evolution.

Image
With its spiral arms and large star-forming disc, Zhúlóng resembles the Milky Way. NASA/CSA/ESA, M. Xiao (University of Geneva), G. Brammer (Niels Bohr Institute), Dawn JWST Archive
This image of Zhúlóng, the most distant spiral galaxy discovered to date, shows its remarkably well-defined spiral arms, a central old bulge, and a large star-forming disk, resembling the structure of the Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / CSA / ESA / M. Xiao, University of Geneva / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute / Dawn JWST Archive.

Overview

  • Zhúlóng, a massive spiral galaxy discovered at redshift 5.2, formed only 1 billion years after the Big Bang, far earlier than previously thought possible for such structures.
  • The galaxy exhibits a mature spiral structure, including a central bulge, expansive star-forming disk, and well-defined spiral arms, features typically seen in much later galaxies.
  • Zhúlóng's size and mass are comparable to the Milky Way, with a disk spanning over 60,000 light-years and containing more than 100 billion solar masses of stars.
  • This discovery was made through the PANORAMIC survey using JWST’s pure parallel mode, enabling wide-area imaging to identify rare, massive galaxies in the early universe.
  • Follow-up observations with JWST and ALMA are planned to confirm Zhúlóng’s properties and further investigate its implications for galaxy formation theories.