REBELS-25, a galaxy resembling the Milky Way found in the early universe, defies traditional models with its orderly structure, indicating rapid galactic evolution.
Astronomers have discovered the most distant Milky-Way-like galaxy ever observed, named REBELS-25. This disc galaxy appears as orderly as those seen in the present day, yet it dates back to when the Universe was only 700 million years old. This discovery challenges prevailing theories of galaxy formation, which suggest that such early galaxies should exhibit more chaotic structures. The rotation and structure of REBELS-25 were revealed using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), operated in partnership with the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Early Galaxy Formation Challenged by New Findings
The galaxies we see today have come a long way from their chaotic, clumpy counterparts that astronomers typically observe in the early Universe. “According to our understanding of galaxy formation, we expect most early galaxies to be small and messy looking,” says Jacqueline Hodge, an astronomer at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and co-author of the study.
REBELS-25: A Cosmic Anomaly
These messy, early galaxies merge with each other and then evolve into smoother shapes at an incredibly slow pace. Current theories suggest that, for a galaxy to be as orderly as our own Milky Way — a rotating disc with tidy structures like spiral arms — billions of years of evolution must have elapsed. The detection of REBELS-25, however, challenges that timescale.
Discovering the Unexpected: REBELS-25’s Orderly Rotation
In the study, set for publication today (October 7) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers found REBELS-25 to be the most distant strongly rotating disc galaxy ever discovered. The light reaching us from this galaxy was emitted when the Universe was only 700 million years old — a mere five percent of its current age (13.8 billion) — making REBELS-25’s orderly rotation unexpected.
“Seeing a galaxy with such similarities to our own Milky Way, that is strongly rotation-dominated, challenges our understanding of how quickly galaxies in the early Universe evolve into the orderly galaxies of today’s cosmos,” says Lucie Rowland, a doctoral student at Leiden University and first author of the study.
Follow-up Observations Confirm Galaxy’s Advanced Features
REBELS-25 was initially detected in previous observations by the same team, also conducted with ALMA, which is located in Chile’s Atacama Desert. At the time, it was an exciting discovery, showing hints of rotation, but the resolution of the data was not fine enough to be sure. To properly discern the structure and motion of the galaxy, the team performed follow-up observations with ALMA at a higher resolution, which confirmed its record-breaking nature.
“ALMA is the only telescope in existence with the sensitivity and resolution to achieve this,” says Renske Smit, a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and also a co-author of the study.
Implications for Cosmology and Future Observations
Surprisingly, the data also hinted at more developed features similar to those of the Milky Way, like a central elongated bar, and even spiral arms, although more observations will be needed to confirm this. “Finding further evidence of more evolved structures would be an exciting discovery, as it would be the most distant galaxy with such structures observed to date,” says Rowland.
These future observations of REBELS-25, alongside other discoveries of early rotating galaxies, will potentially transform our understanding of early galaxy formation, and the evolution of the Universe as a whole.
Reference: “REBELS-25: Discovery of a dynamically cold disc galaxy at z = 7.31” by Lucie E Rowland, Jacqueline Hodge, Rychard Bouwens, Pavel E Mancera Piña, Alexander Hygate, Hiddo Algera, Manuel Aravena, Rebecca Bowler, Elisabete da Cunha, Pratika Dayal, Andrea Ferrara, Thomas Herard-Demanche, Hanae Inami, Ivana van Leeuwen, Ilse de Looze, Pascal Oesch, Andrea Pallottini, Siân Phillips, Matus Rybak, Sander Schouws, Renske Smit, Laura Sommovigo, Mauro Stefanon and Paul van der Werf, 7 October 2024, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae2217
The observations were conducted as part of the ALMA Large Program REBELS: Reionization Era Bright Emission Lines Survey.
The team is composed of L. E. Rowland (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, the Netherlands [Leiden]), J. Hodge (Leiden), R. Bouwens (Leiden), P. M. Piña (Leiden), A. Hygate (Leiden), H. Algera (Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, Japan [HASC]; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan), M. Aravena (Núcleo de Astronomía, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile), R. Bowler (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester, UK), E. da Cunha (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions), P. Dayal (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, the Netherlands), A. Ferrara (Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy [SNS]), T. Herard-Demanche (Leiden), H. Inami (HASC), I. van Leeuwen (Leiden), I. de Looze (Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Ghent University, Belgium), P. Oesch (Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Cosmic Dawn Center, Denmark), A. Pallottini (SNS), S. Phillips (Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, UK [LJMU]), M. Rybak (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands; Leiden; Netherlands Institute for Space Research, the Netherlands), S. Schouws (Leiden), R. Smit (LJMU), L. Sommovigo (Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, USA), M. Stefanon (Departament d’Astronomia i Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Spain; Grupo de Astrofísica Extragaláctica y Cosmología, Universitat de València, Spain), P. van der Werf (Leiden).
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16 Comments
“a galaxy with such similarities to our own Milky Way, that is strongly rotation-dominated, challenges our understanding of how quickly galaxies in the early Universe evolve into the orderly galaxies of today’s cosmos”
It’s the sort of thing one should expect if all early evidence for dark matter is just early evidence of a failure to understand “extra” gravity, but space-time is purely political, the alternative critically provides zero emotional “security” to all of its invaluable proponents, so the best one can expect is more nonsense piled on top of the supremacist gravity-independent lightspeed delusion known as “spacetime.”
Can dark matter consist of former black holes that have collapsed into tiny (invisible) compressed nº degree? If so there must have been a zillion black holes in the very early universe.
Has someone written about something like this?
Black holes spew the mater they suck in back into the greater multiverse.
There is a theory of mirroring. It can perhaps help explain this.
When physics uses imagined things as the Formal Base and Evidential Base for research. What is the difference between physics and religion?
Please ask researchers to think deeply:
What is the difference between imagined particles and imagined God?
Scientific research guided by correct theories can help people avoid detours, failures, and exaggeration. The physical phenomena observed by researchers in experiments are always appearances, never the natural essence of things. The natural essence of things needs to be extracted and sublimated based on mathematical theories via appearances , rather than being imagined arbitrarily.
Everytime scientific revolution, the scientific research space brought by the new paradigm expands exponentially. Physics should not ignore the analyzable physical properties of topological vortices.
(1) Traditional physics: based on mathematical formalism, experimental verification and arbitrary imagination.
(2) Topological Vortex Theory: Although also based on mathematics (such as topology), it focuses more on non intuitive geometry and topological structures, challenging traditional physical intuition.
Topological Vortex Theory points out the limitations of the Standard Model in describing the large-scale structure of the universe, proposes the need to consider non-standard model components such as dark matter and dark energy, and suggests that topological vortex fields may be key to understanding these phenomena. The interaction and balance of topological vortices encompass all long-range and short-range contributions of spatiotemporal motion, and are the driving forces behind the endless spatiotemporal motion.
Topological vortex theory heralds innovative technologies such as topological electronics, topological smart batteries, topological quantum computing, etc., which may bring low-energy electronic components, almost inexhaustible currents, and revolutionary computing platforms, etc.
Topology tells us that topological vortices and antivortices can form new spacetime structures via the synchronous effect of superposition, deflection, or twisting of them. In fact, mathematics does not tell us that there must be God particles, ghost particles, fermions, or bosons present. When physics and mathematics diverge, arbitrary imagination will make physics no different from theology. Topological vortex research reflections on the philosophy and methodology of science help us understand the nature essence of science and the limitations of scientific methods. This not only has guiding significance for scientific research itself, but also has important implications for science education and popularization.
Today, so-called official (such as PRL, Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.) in physics stubbornly believes that two sets of cobalt-60 rotating in opposite directions can become two sets of objects that mirror each other, is a typical case that pseudoscience is rampant and domineering. Please witness the exemplary collaboration between theoretical physicists and experimentalists (https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-854286).
Let us continue to witness together the dirtiest and ugliest era in the scientific and humanistic history of human society. The laws of nature will not change due to misleading of so-called academic publications.
Not me.
I watched Spaceballs.
…
“When is then?”
“Now!”
Thanks to new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope we now suspect the universe is at least 27B years old not 13.8. Personally, I suspect all of these newfound anomalies are because the universe is made of energy and it’s most likely in a torus shaped vortex- and I’m willing to bet the “mirror Milky Way” is exactly that- a mirror image in the position opposite us, as everything in the 3rd dimension is comprised of photons.
I’m baffled by things all the time. Can I get a job as an astronomer?
It means the big bang is false, distant light travel is false, that’s how the galaxy observed currently is in real time. It’s not billions years ago.
Everything evolved simultaneously. At different energy strengths not time or expansion of space. Spa e is finite closed system.
I agree that it all evolved simultaneously. You are getting closer. Just get rid of that closed system belief.
We see our star Sun 8 minutes in the past.
Anyone who thinks “the” universe is a closed system isn’t thinking logically about it. If the universe (meaning all there is) had an outside boundary (necessary for a closed system) there would have to be something on the other side of that boundary. It may be hard for some to comprehend but The Universe is infinite in all directions. It has no end. Not time wise nor boundary wise. Other dimensions or alternate universes are thought experiments. Not real. Just because there is a theory or should I say accepted theory that is partially supported by incomplete math. Is only an idea or opinion.
This is my opinion.
Perhaps your image of a closed system is incomplete. In Carl Sagan’s ‘Flatworld’ experiment, that two-dimensional Universe continues in the xy plane infinitely, but cannot be infinite in the z axis because, to the denizens of flatworld, the z axis does not exist. It would therefore be enclosed by the z axis { dimension } despite being functionally infinite within its own xy parameters. And, the flatworld physicists would be unable to prove or disprove this hypothesis.
As I point out to others occasionally, just because you and I cannot solve a problem doesn’t mean the problem cannot be solved… it just means you and I can’t solve it.
I agree that it all evolved simultaneously. You are getting closer. Just get rid of that closed system belief.
Current estimates have the Milky Way Galaxy took 9 billion years to get to where it is and its black hole, Sag-A-star, is only millions of Solar masses. An orderly, rotating spiral galaxy at 13.1 billion light years “…challenges our understanding of how quickly galaxies in the early Universe evolve into the orderly galaxies of today’s cosmos,” says Lucie Rowland.
Uh, they are still fighting the obvious. The Universe is much older than 13.8B years. That easily explains Rebel-25 and all the little red dots that Webb has uncovered at a few hundred million years “after the big bang”. This is not to speak of supermassive black holes (billions of Solar masses) found only 200M years after the big bang.
What happens if the universe is shown to be >13.8B years old? Redshift at large distances is inaccurate, CMB is NOT leftover radiation from the big bang, and there is no such stuff as cold dark matter.
I think we’re all quick to explain this discovery within pet theories we each ascribe to. How about taking a step back, focus on the word “most” in the article when early galaxies are mentioned, and remember that exceptions always exist…? Just a thought.