SPT0418-47 is a young and extremely distant galaxy, discovered in 2020, that is surprisingly similar to the Milky Way. We see it as it was when the universe was only 1.4 billion years old.[2][3] It is surprisingly non-chaotic and contradicts the theory that all galaxies in the early Universe were turbulent and unstable.[3] It is located at a distance of about twelve billion light years from the Earth's home galaxy, the Milky Way.[3] The circular image (on the left of the accompanying picture) is our distorted view of the galaxy; the distortion is due to the gravity of a galaxy (between the Earth and the galaxy SPT0418-47 and not visible in this image) which focusses the light from SPT0418-47 into a ring. Computer modelling can be used to undo the distortion, revealing the galaxy's true appearance: a rotating disk with central bulge (on the right of the accompanying picture).[4]
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