Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have identified the most distant spiral galaxy ever observed — a fully formed Milky Way “twin” that existed only 1 billion years after the Big Bang.<br /><br />The newly discovered galaxy, named Zhúlóng, shows clear spiral arms, a thick stellar disk, and a structured center — features scientists believed took billions of years to develop. Its light traveled 12.8 billion years across the universe to reach Earth, revealing an astonishingly mature galaxy in the early cosmos.<br /><br />With a stellar disk spanning 60,000 light-years and a mass of about 100 billion Suns, Zhúlóng resembles a younger version of our Milky Way. The discovery was made during JWST’s ANORAMIC survey, which uses wide-field parallel observations to hunt for rare, massive early galaxies.<br /><br />This breakthrough challenges long-standing theories of galaxy evolution and opens new questions about how quickly the first galaxies formed.<br /><br />Watch the full video to learn how JWST found this cosmic “Torch Dragon” from the dawn of time.
