Unveiling the Secrets of a Distant Milky Way-like Galaxy

Astronomers have discovered a barred spiral galaxy, named ceers-2112, at a redshift of approximately 3, making it one of the earliest known examples of a galaxy with a mature stellar bar. The galaxy, which has a stellar mass similar to that of the Milky Way, provides insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early Universe. The presence of a barred structure challenges previous models that suggested bars were rare beyond a redshift of 1.5. The discovery suggests that baryons (ordinary matter) could have dominated over dark matter at such early cosmic times, and that dynamically cold stellar disks and bars could have formed much earlier than previously thought.