‘Cosmic monster alert’: 11-billion-year-old galaxy too big for science to explain

Produced by: Manoj Kumar

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Cosmic Giant

Dr. Themiya Nanayakkara, a galaxy spectral modeling expert from Swinburne University, led the team that discovered the Big Wheel galaxy, a disk three times larger than any galaxy of its time.

Spinning Monster

This colossal disk galaxy, rotating at 300 km/s, was confirmed through James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRSpec data—revealing the universe’s largest known disk at such an early stage.

Disk Mystery

Challenging long-held beliefs, Nanayakkara’s team found a fully formed disk when the universe was just 2.4 billion years old—forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies grow.

Quasar Neighbor

Discovered near a bright quasar inside a proto-cluster, this galaxy suggests that dense cosmic neighborhoods may speed up disk formation in ways science can’t yet explain.

False-Color Marvel

James Webb’s NIRCam images show a stunning 10-kiloparsec-wide disk glowing in false color—revealing intricate details of a structure far too big for its cosmic age.

Speeding Growth

The Big Wheel’s massive size and high rotation speed reveal how fast and efficiently galaxies could form—something existing cosmological models had deemed impossible.

Cosmic Puzzle

The discovery of such a stable, massive disk in the chaotic early universe challenges leading galaxy formation theories, exposing what Dr. Nanayakkara calls “unknown physics.”

Early Clues

Nanayakkara believes non-destructive galaxy mergers and smooth, co-rotating gas flows may have fueled this rapid formation—offering fresh insights into early galaxy growth.

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Next Frontier

Calling for more James Webb observations, Nanayakkara aims to find more of these “hidden giants” to uncover the secrets of galaxy formation in the ancient universe.

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