Pune researchers find massive, grand-design spiral galaxy

Two researchers from an astrophysics institute in Pune have discovered one of the most distant spiral galaxies ever observed a massive wellformed system that existed when the universe was just 15 billion years oldThe finding adds to growing evidence that the early universe was more evolved than previously assumed they saidNamed Alaknanda after a Himalayan river the granddesign spiral galaxy challenges existing theories on how early complex galactic structures formed the researchers saidFinding such a wellformed spiral galaxy at this early epoch is quite unexpected It shows that sophisticated structures were being built much earlier than we thought possible one of the researchers saidDespite being present when the universe was only 10 per cent of its current age Alaknanda appears strikingly similar to the Milky Way The findings have been published in the European journal Astronomy amp AstrophysicsUsing NASAs James Webb Space Telescope JWST researchers Rashi Jain and Yogesh Wadadekar from the Punebased National Centre for Radio Astrophysics NCRATIFR identified the galaxyAlaknanda lies at a redshift of about 4 meaning its light has travelled more than 12 billion years to reach Earth Jain saidWe are seeing this galaxy as it appeared just 15 billion years after the Big Bang Finding such a wellformed spiral galaxy at this early epoch is quite unexpected It shows that sophisticated structures were being built much earlier than we thought possible she saidUsing JWSTs infrared sensitivity and resolution the team found that Alaknanda contains roughly 10 billion times the mass of the sun in stars and is forming new stars at about 63 solar masses per year nearly 20 to 30 times the Milky Ways current rate the researchers said in a releaseBefore JWST astronomers believed early galaxies were chaotic and clumpy with stable spiral structures emerging only after several billion years they saidDominant models suggested that early galaxies were too hot and turbulent to form ordered disks capable of sustaining spiral arms the release saidAlaknanda tells a different story Wadadekar said This galaxy had to assemble 10 billion solar masses of stars and build a large disk with spiral arms in just a few hundred million years Thats incredibly rapid by cosmic standards he saidThe discovery adds to growing JWST evidence that the early universe was more evolved than previously assumed While other disk galaxies have been spotted at similar distances Alaknanda is among the clearest examples of a spiral galaxy with welldefined arms at such a high redshift the release saidJain said the team chose the name Alaknanda one of the two main headstreams of the river Ganga because of its connection to the Milky WayJust as the Alaknanda is the sister river of the Mandakini which is the Hindi name for our own Milky Way we thought it fitting to name this distant spiral galaxy after the Alaknanda river she saidAlthough Alaknandas photometric redshift is wellestablished followup observations with JWSTs NIRSpec instrument or the Atacama Large Millimetersubmillimeter Array ALMA are needed to measure its disk rotation the researchers saidThese measurements will reveal whether the galaxys disk is cold and orderly or hot and turbulent helping scientists understand how its spiral arms formed they addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever