Scientists may soon change their theories on the formation of galaxies after the recent release of an image which shows a young galaxy that bears a resemblance to our own Milky Way, but from when the universe was 10% of its current age.
Using archived observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile’s Antofagasta Region, a team of astronomers were able to look at the distant galaxy SPT–SJ041839–4751.9, or SPT0418–47, as it appeared at a young age – some 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy is about 12.4 billion light-years from Earth, meaning that the light we see from it now was emitted when the universe was relatively young.
While the image of SPT0418–47 appears to be a perfect ring, the view of the galaxy is actually being gravitationally lensed by a galaxy between our own Milky Way and itself.
