Have a theological question?

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has recently been reported to have found a massive early-universe galaxy, XMM-VID1-2075, that shows no evidence of rotation, which surprised astronomers because such slow rotators are usually seen only in older, more mature galaxies nearby.

The galaxy appears to have existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old, at redshift 3.45, yet its internal motion looks more like a settled, non-rotating system than a young spinning disk. It lies in the early universe, far beyond the Milky Way, and was identified from the MAGAZ3NE survey and then studied in detail with JWST.

Astronomers studying it with JWST found that among three similarly aged galaxies, one rotated clearly, one was chaotic, and this one showed no rotation but substantial random motion. This challenges the usual picture of galaxy evolution, because building a non-rotating, dynamically hot galaxy was thought to take a long time and many mergers.

Its existence so early suggests either an unusually fast formation history or a different evolutionary pathway than current models expect. One suggested explanation is a major collision, possibly between galaxies rotating in opposite directions, which could cancel out net spin.

Another possibility is that the galaxy followed a formation route not yet well captured in simulations. References Clark, G. & Egan, R. (2026, 9 May). Non-Rotating Early Galaxy is a Surprise to Astronomers. Phys.Org. Fell, A. (2026, 4 May). Non-Rotating Early Galaxy is a Surprise to Astronomers.

UC Davis. Nowakowski, T. (2025, 25 August). XMM-VID1-2075 is a Massive, Evolved and Slow-Rotating Galaxy, Observations Suggest. Phys.Org. Thompson, M. (2026, 31 May). The Galaxy That Forgot to Spin. Universe Today.

About Coram Deo

Coram Deo — before the face of God. This blog reflects on Scripture, world events, science, music, psychology, and the human mind — always through the lens of Christian faith. All of life is lived before the face of God.