'We had less than a 2% chance to find this': James Webb telescope uncovers baffling 'Big Wheel', one of the most massive galaxies in the early universe

Live Science ^ | March 21, 2025 | Themiya Nanayakkara

[Red Badger]

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered an object they've dubbed 'Big Wheel,' a gargantuan galaxy spinning through the early universe and growing larger by the second.

The Big Wheel alongside some of its neighbors. (Image credit: Weichen Wang et al. (2025), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Deep observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an exceptionally large galaxy in the early universe. It's a cosmic giant whose light has travelled over 12 billion years to reach us. We've dubbed it the Big Wheel, with our findings published March 17 in Nature Astronomy.

This giant disk galaxy existed within the first two billion years after the Big Bang, meaning it formed when the universe was just 15% of its current age. It challenges what we know about how galaxies form.

What is a disk galaxy?

Picture a galaxy like our own Milky Way: a flat, rotating structure made up of stars, gas and dust, often surrounded by an extensive halo of unseen dark matter.

Disk galaxies typically have clear spiral arms extending outward from a dense central region. Our Milky Way itself is a disk galaxy, characterized by beautiful spiral arms that wrap around its center.

[Sirius Lee]

It may not even exist now..................

It may have never existed. What if our universal computer simulation is just generating the graphics representing what the observer half-expects to see according to wherever the telescope is pointing? Kind of a glitch.

[telescope115]

“Looking back in time” is what I tell kids that come to star parties. The ones that pay attention find it fascinating.

[telescope115]

I’m looking forward to cleaning the objective on our club’s 10” refractor. It’s been a more than a few years since it’s been done.

[alexander_busek]

I guess I didn’t get your humor.

With my "Windex" joke, I was referencing that classic Hugo Award-winning science-fiction story "The Star," by Arthur C. Clarke, published in 1955. It contains a mention of a cleaning lady at an astronomical observatory mistakenly using Windex on the sensitive mirror of a telescope.

Sorry, thought that you, as an astronomer (or rather someone who worked at an observatory) would have caught that.

Regards,

[rellic]

Thanks for your generous reply!
I have participated in many Large telescope mirror cleanings. Yes I have heard of the Windex story,
But I also know that destroys the mirrors I’ve worked with over the years.
I used to read a lot of fiction, but as my years of engineering progressed Technical reading and writing
started to dominate.
When I travel, I take only one fiction novel,
“Moby dick”, AKA “The whale”. My idea of “Light” reading.
I’ve probably read it a dozen times, each time discovering a new nuance to the story.
I did a count the other year, I own seven Bibles.
They all say the same thing differently.
When I travel I use the Hotel room bible.

In my time zone it is the weekend, Have an enjoyable few days off!

[alexander_busek]

“Moby dick”, AKA “The whale”. My idea of “Light” reading.

I must get around to finally reading that in the original English.

Regards,

[minnesota_bound]

Imagine the aliens. Either beings who have ascended or who in galactic wars fallen into ashes.

[aspasia]

in the early universe.

I feel young and eternal.

[Songcraft]

Here's how it looks from the other side.


     

[Red Badger]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/real-life-whale-inspired-moby-dick-180965282/#:~:text=Mocha%20Dick%2C%20named%20after%20the%20island%20of,lore%2C%E2%80%9D%20according%20to%20the%20Chronicle%20Books%20blog.&text=Little%20is%20known%20for%20sure%20about%20how,Dick%20into%20Moby%20Dick%20for%20his%20story.