Discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope’s data are shaking the foundations of long-held cosmic theories.
A team of scientists led by the University of Missouri (USA) has analyzed data collected by the world’s most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, regarding the universe’s first 2 billion years post-Big Bang, unveiling an unexpected finding: spiral galaxies.
According to accepted cosmological theories, the early universe was a monotonous and slowly evolving region, with the first galaxies exhibiting simple structures and small sizes.
The large and complex spiral galaxies—similar to the Milky Way where Earth resides—were thought to only emerge when the universe reached an age of 6 to 7 billion years.
Spiral galaxies found in the early universe bear shapes not too different from the Milky Way – (Photo: NASA/ESA/CSA).
However, the new “translucent” images of a series of galaxies existing long before that period have completely shocked researchers.
Having only been operational since 2022, the young James Webb Telescope, co-managed by space agencies from the USA, Europe, and Canada, boasts observational capabilities that surpass those of its “predecessor” telescopes.
The light that creates an image of an object requires a corresponding time to travel to this telescope orbiting Earth.
Thus, as long as James Webb “looks” far enough, it will see objects from the past in the state and position they existed billions of years ago.
The spiral galaxies in this case are no exception.
According to SciTech Daily, recent data from James Webb indicates that in the 2 billion years following the Big Bang, up to 30% of galaxies were spiral galaxies.
This pushes back the timeline for the initial formation of this type of galaxy in the ancient universe by 4 to 5 billion years compared to previous beliefs.
Professor Yicheng Guo, a co-author of the study, noted that the spiral “arms” of galaxies are a fundamental characteristic that astronomers use to classify galaxies and understand how they evolve over time.
While we still have many questions about the universe’s past, analyzing this data allows us to uncover more clues and gain deeper insights into the physics that shaped the universe’s nature.
This discovery adds to a series of recent findings—since the inception of James Webb—that suggest the universe’s first billion years may have developed much faster than previously thought.
And this not only requires humanity to rewrite cosmic history but also to reconsider the history of the world we inhabit.
Our Milky Way may have a more ancient, complex, and wild history than we ever imagined.
