Astronomers from our Physics Department have discovered the earliest known evidence of a galaxy being shaped from the inside out, revealing that key processes in galaxy evolution were already under way when the Universe was still young.
The research shows that a distant galaxy, seen as it was more than nine billion years ago, already contains a dense, star-forming structure at its centre known as a nuclear disc.
Until now, nuclear discs had only been found in nearby, fully developed galaxies. Finding one so far back in time provides direct proof that galaxies were forming complex internal structures much earlier than previously thought.
The discovery was made using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, whose exceptional sensitivity allows astronomers to study galaxies at unprecedented distances.
Led by researchers from Durham’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, the team examined a galaxy that already hosts a long, bar-shaped structure made of stars.
These stellar bars act like cosmic conveyor belts, channelling gas and stars towards the centre of a galaxy.
The research team found that this bar has built a compact nuclear disc at the galaxy’s core, where new stars are actively forming.
Despite its great distance, the nuclear disc looks strikingly similar to those found in nearby galaxies today, suggesting that galaxies grow and mature faster than scientists once believed.
The findings challenge long-held ideas about galaxy evolution, which assumed that such organised structures only appeared much later in the Universe’s history.
Instead, the research shows that galaxies were already evolving in a structured and efficient way just a few billion years after the Big Bang.
The discovery also has wider implications. Nuclear discs are thought to store gas that can eventually feed the supermassive black holes found at the centres of galaxies.
Understanding when and how these discs form could therefore help explain how black holes grew during the most active period of the Universe.
The team now plans to carry out follow-up observations to study how stars and gas move within this distant galaxy.
Our Department of Physics is ranked 88th in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 and third in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2026. Visit our Physics webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
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