A galaxy lost its spin before time had enough to allow it
In short: Most galaxies maintain their rotation for billions of years unless interrupted by violent events. However, new data from the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a massive anomaly: a galaxy that should be spinning but isn't, appearing far earlier in cosmic history than current models predict.
Galaxies typically retain their spin once acquired, unless they undergo dramatic collisions. During such mergers, stars and gas are scrambled and sloshed about, gradually stripping away ordered rotation to create what astronomers call a 'slow rotator.'
A study by Forrest et al. detected a sluggishly spinning galaxy from an era before the cosmos reached 2 billion years of age. This discovery challenges existing evolutionary models because there should not have been enough time for repeated collisions to strip that much spin away so quickly.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Something stole this galaxy's spin 12 billion years ago
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