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June 3, 2021
The most ancient spiral galaxy found so far, called BRI 1335-0417, at an distance of 12.4 billion light-years and at a time just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. Spiral arms are visible on both sides of the compact, bright area in the galaxy center. Image via ALMA/ T. Tsukui & S. Iguchi.
Swirly and beautiful, spiral galaxies are what we often think of when someone mentions the word
galaxy. Our own Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. These galaxies are pretty common in the nearby universe. But the farther back in time and distance astronomers look, the fewer spiral galaxies they see among the multitudes of galaxies in our universe. Instead, as we go out into space – and back in time – galaxies appear more irregular in shape. And thus