NASA Telescope Discovers Galaxy From 11.5 Billion Years Ago

(Dreamstime)

NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found a galaxy in the early universe from about 11.5 billion years ago that is so massive, it should not exist, challenging the standard model of cosmology, according to the study authors, Space.com reported.

The galaxy, called ZF-UDS-7329, contains more stars than the Milky Way despite having formed only 800 million years into the universe’s 13.8 billion-year life span — meaning they were somehow born without dark matter seeding their formation, contrary to what the standard model of galaxy formation suggests, Space.com reported.

Astronomers say this could change our understanding of the formation and evolution of the universe, The Independent newspaper reported.

“Having these extremely massive galaxies so early in the universe is posing significant challenges to our standard model of cosmology,” said study co-author Claudia Lagos, an associate professor of astronomy at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

Massive dark matter structures, which are thought to be necessary components for holding early galaxies together, did not yet have time to form this early in the universe, Lagos added.

“This pushes the boundaries of our current understanding of how galaxies form and evolve,” study co-author Dr. Themiya Nanayakkara said in a statement.

“The key question now is how they form so fast very early in the universe and what mysterious mechanisms lead to stopping them from forming stars abruptly when the rest of the universe is doing so,” Dr. Nanayakkara said.

The researchers’ next steps will be to search for more galaxies like this. If they find any, it could seriously contradict prior ideas of how galaxies formed, they wrote.