Webb Telescope Spots Milky Way Lookalike Galaxy 12 Billion Light-Years Away
Astronomers discovered a spiral galaxy resembling the Milky Way, located more than 12 billion light-years from Earth, using the James Webb Space Telescope. Indian researchers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research identified the galaxy, named Alaknanda, in observations from recent sky surveys. The finding occurred in data analyzed this month, with announcements on Dec. 3 and 4, officials said.
The discovery challenges long-held models of early galaxy formation, as Alaknanda formed when the universe was about 1.5 billion years old. Scientists expected galaxies at that epoch to appear chaotic and irregular, based on Hubble Space Telescope data from previous decades. Researchers detected Alaknanda through JWST's infrared imaging, which revealed its orderly spiral arms and smooth disk, according to a press release from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Led by Rashi Jain and Yogesh Wadadekar, the team analyzed JWST images showing Alaknanda's structure. The galaxy contains about 10 billion solar masses of stars, assembled in a few hundred million years. This rapid formation defies predictions that such organized spirals would not emerge until billions of years later, researchers said. Gravitational lensing enhanced the telescope's view, providing detailed insights into the galaxy's features, as reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
"Alaknanda reveals that the early universe was capable of far more rapid galaxy assembly than we anticipated," said Yogesh Wadadekar, a co-author at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics. "Somehow, this galaxy managed to pull together 10 billion solar masses of stars and organise them into a beautiful spiral disk in just a few hundred million years. That's extraordinarily fast by cosmic standards," he added, according to ScienceDaily.
This finding builds on prior JWST discoveries of early spirals. In 2023, astronomers identified CEERS-2112, another mature galaxy from a similar era. REBELS-25 followed in 2024, showing organized structures sooner than expected. These observations contradict Hubble-era models from the 1980s to 2010s, which described early galaxies as turbulent clumps driven by mergers, officials at NASA and the European Space Agency said.
JWST's infrared capabilities, launched in 2021, enable detection of distant objects invisible to Hubble. The telescope operates as a collaboration among NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Indian institutions contributed through data analysis in major programs like CEERS and REBELS, highlighting global partnerships in astronomy, according to the BBC.
Alaknanda's properties include prominent, symmetric spiral arms, akin to the Milky Way's grand design. It formed during a period when the universe's age implied redshift values around 10 to 12, based on light travel time exceeding 12 billion years. Rapid star formation rates characterized the galaxy, allowing its disk to organize quickly, researchers noted in their analysis.
The discovery implies faster galaxy assembly processes, possibly involving efficient cooling or angular momentum transfer. This challenges the Lambda-CDM model of hierarchical formation, which posits gradual buildup over billions of years. Scientists said the finding could inform studies on dark matter and galaxy simulations, accelerating timelines for habitable zones and exoplanet evolution.
Unrelated JWST finds, such as the Firefly Sparkle galaxy announced in December 2024, show similar early maturity but differ in structure and mass. Firefly Sparkle, observed 600 million years after the Big Bang, features resolved star clusters and weighs about the mass of a young Milky Way, according to NASA. Another 2023 discovery detected organic molecules in a galaxy 12 billion light-years away, but it lacks Alaknanda's spiral form.
Experts called for further verification, including exact redshift and coordinates for Alaknanda. No public JWST image has been released, though credits attribute potential visuals to Rashi Jain and the telescope's operators. Peer-reviewed details remain partial, with full publication expected soon, sources at the Tata Institute said.
The announcement positions Alaknanda as the latest in JWST's revelations on the early universe. It follows a pattern of "impossible early" galaxies that appear more structured than models predicted. Astronomers anticipate more data from ongoing surveys to refine formation theories, officials added.
This development underscores JWST's role in reshaping cosmology. Approved for operations through at least 2028, the telescope continues to yield breakthroughs in international collaborations. Indian-led efforts, like this one, highlight emerging contributions to space research, according to reports from the BBC and ScienceDaily.
