Scientists discover seismic ripples in oldest spiral galaxy

An ancient spiral galaxy's rapid star generation and distinctive structural characteristics such as seismic ripples provide important new insights into the early stages of galaxy creation.

Researchers may be able to learn more about the formation and ancestry of our own Milky Way galaxy from a recently discovered image of an old, distant galaxy, reported SciTech Daily.

BRI 1335-0417 is the oldest and farthest known spiral galaxy in the Universe, having formed more than 12 billion years ago.

Lead author Dr Takafumi Tsukui noted that they were able to examine this old galaxy in much more detail thanks to a cutting-edge telescope known as ALMA.

“Specifically, we were interested in how gas was moving into and throughout the galaxy,” Dr Tsukui said.

“Gas is a key ingredient for forming stars and can give us important clues about how a galaxy is actually fueling its star formation.”

In this instance, the scientists were able to record the mobility of the gas surrounding BRI 1335-0417 as well as detect the formation of a seismic wave, which is unprecedented for this kind of early galaxy.

The disc of the galaxy is a flattened mass of whirling gas, dust, and stars that moves similarly to ripples that form on a pond when a stone is tossed in.