Pune Astronomers Discover 12-Billion-Year-Old Milky Way-Like Alaknanda Galaxy

• Indian scientists discovered Alaknanda, a 12-billion-year-old spiral galaxy, using the James Webb Space Telescope.
• Discovered by astronomers at NCRA-TIFR in Pune, Alaknanda existed when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old.
• The galaxy exhibits a mature, grand-design spiral morphology, strikingly similar to the Milky Way.
• Alaknanda's early formation challenges conventional theories about when stable spiral galaxies could form.
• Gravitational lensing by the Abell 2744 cluster aided in the observation of this distant galaxy.

Why It Matters: Discovery of Alaknanda challenges existing theories of early galaxy formation.