Astronomers Discover New Galaxy Born 12 Billion Light Years Ago

The star formation triggered by the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in its current approximation to the Milky Way is seen in an illustration. Reuters
The star formation triggered by the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in its current approximation to the Milky Way is seen in an illustration. Reuters
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Astronomers Discover New Galaxy Born 12 Billion Light Years Ago

The star formation triggered by the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in its current approximation to the Milky Way is seen in an illustration. Reuters
The star formation triggered by the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in its current approximation to the Milky Way is seen in an illustration. Reuters

Astronomers have discovered a very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way, appearing as a ring of light at a distance of 12 billion light years in the dark universe. The galaxy, named SPT0418-47, is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us.

Astronomers see it as it was when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old, 10 percent of its current age, according to data by European Southern Observatory (ESO), a partner in this discovery. At the time, these baby galaxies were just beginning to develop, AFP reported.

The galaxy, which was discovered using the ALMA Telescope in northern Chile, looks surprisingly like our Milky Way and has a similar rotating disc and large group of stars packed tightly around the galactic center. This discovery surprised astronomers who never thought such a galaxy could be formed 12 billion light years ago. "This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike," ESO said.

This unexpected discovery suggests no disturbances or instabilities in the young galaxy which seems very calm. This made astronomers believe that "this Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a young galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang."

Co-author Simona Vegetti, from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, said: "What we found was quite puzzling; despite forming stars at a high rate, and therefore being the site of highly energetic processes, SPT0418-47 is the most well-ordered galaxy disc ever observed in the early Universe."

The findings were published in the journal Nature.



Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
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Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)

The number of births in Japan last year fell below 700,000 for the first time on record, government data showed Wednesday.

The fast-ageing nation welcomed 686,061 newborns in 2024 -- 41,227 fewer than in 2023, the data showed. It was the lowest figure since records began in 1899.

Japan has the world's second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the situation a "quiet emergency", pledging family-friendly measures like more flexible working hours to try and reverse the trend.

Wednesday's health ministry data showed that Japan's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman is expected to have -- also fell to a record low of 1.15.

The ministry said Japan saw 1.6 million deaths in 2024, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Ishiba has called for the revitalization of rural regions, where shrinking elderly villages are becoming increasingly isolated.

In more than 20,000 communities in Japan, the majority of residents are aged 65 and above, according to the internal affairs ministry.

The country of 123 million people is also facing increasingly severe worker shortages as its population ages, not helped by relatively strict immigration rules.

In neighboring South Korea, the fertility rate in 2024 was even lower than Japan's, at 0.75 -- remaining one of the world's lowest but marking a small rise from the previous year on the back of a rise in marriages.