Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have identified the most distant spiral galaxy ever observed — a fully formed Milky Way “twin” that existed only 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
The newly discovered galaxy, named Zhúlóng, shows clear spiral arms, a thick stellar disk, and a structured center — features scientists believed took billions of years to develop. Its light traveled 12.8 billion years across the universe to reach Earth, revealing an astonishingly mature galaxy in the early cosmos.
With a stellar disk spanning 60,000 light-years and a mass of about 100 billion Suns, Zhúlóng resembles a younger version of our Milky Way. The discovery was made during JWST’s ANORAMIC survey, which uses wide-field parallel observations to hunt for rare, massive early galaxies.
This breakthrough challenges long-standing theories of galaxy evolution and opens new questions about how quickly the first galaxies formed.
Watch the full video to learn how JWST found this cosmic “Torch Dragon” from the dawn of time.
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