Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2022

26 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 ASTRO PUBLISHING by ALMA Observatory Nicolás Lira Signs of rotation in a early galaxy A n international research team led by Tsuyoshi Tokuoka, a graduate student at Waseda University in Japan, has observed signs of rotation in a galaxy, which existed in the early universe, only 500 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy is by far the earliest galaxy with a signature of galaxy ro- tation. Its rotational speed is only 50 kilometers per second, compared to 220 kilometers per second for the Milky Way, indicating that the gal- axy is still at an initial stage of devel- oping a rotational motion. This finding would lead to a better understanding of the galaxy forma- tion in the early universe. As telescopes have become more ad- vanced and powerful, astronomers have been able to detect more and more distant galaxies. Due to the ex- pansion of the universe, these galax- ies are receding away from us.