The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered Zhūlóng, the most distant and earliest spiral galaxy observed to date. This groundbreaking discovery challenges existing theories of galactic evolution.
Observed as it existed only 1 billion years after the Big Bang, Zhūlóng is surprisingly mature. It exhibits a well-defined spiral structure, a central bulge of old stars, and a large star-forming disk with spiral arms. These features are similar to those seen in the Milky Way.
Zhūlóng, named after a mythical Chinese dragon, was discovered as part of the JWST's PANORAMIC survey. The galaxy's disk spans 62,000 light-years and has a mass of approximately 100 billion times that of the Sun. Its existence suggests that well-ordered spiral galaxies could form much earlier in the universe than previously believed. Future studies using JWST and ALMA may further reveal how this "grand design" spiral galaxy formed so early in the universe.