A spiral galaxy in the early universe, billions of years before many other spiral galaxies formed, has been witnessed for the first time.
The galaxy has been observed in the form it existed in roughly three billion years after the Big Bang, and light from this part of the universe has been travelling to Earth for about 10.7 billion years.
The galaxy represents a link between early galaxies that are much more turbulent and the rotating spiral galaxies around us, and may highlight the importance of merger interactions at any cosmic epoch in creating grand design spiral structure.
Read more at University of California