DLA0817g, also known as the Wolfe Disk, is a galaxy located in the constellation Cancer, from Earth. Discovered in 2017 using observations made with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), it was studied with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) observatory and the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

. It is a large rotating

disc galaxy A disc galaxy (or disk galaxy) is a galaxy characterized by a galactic disc, a flattened circular volume of stars. These galaxies may or may not include a central non-disc-like region (a galactic bulge). Disc galaxy types include: * Spiral ga ...

, with a mass of approximately 72 billion solar masses, dating back to an early age in the life of the universe, approximately 1.5 billion years after the

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

. This contradicts previous models that describe the formation and evolution of galaxies and that foresee a gradual and progressive increase in galactic dimensions. This galaxy has other characteristics that appear early compared to its age. Its rotational speed, approximately , is also comparable to that of a mature galaxy like our

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

galaxy. It is nicknamed the Wolfe Galaxy or the Wolfe Disc in honor of

Arthur M. Wolfe Arthur Michael "Art" Wolfe (29 April 1939 – 17 February 2014) was an American astrophysicist, professor and the former Director of the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Together with Rainer K. S ...

, an American astrophysicist, one of the discoverers of the Sachs-Wolfe effect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DLA0817g Cancer (constellation) Galaxies Galaxies discovered in 2017