LOS ANGELES, July 18 (UPI) -- U.S. and
Canadian astronomers say they've seen a spiral galaxy born in the early
universe billions of years before that kind of galaxy should have
formed.

The distant spiral galaxy, observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, is
being seen as it existed roughly 3 billion years after the big bang
since light from this part of the universe has been traveling to Earth
for about 10.7 billion years.

"As you go back in time to the early universe, galaxies look really
strange, clumpy and irregular, not symmetric," study co-author Alice
Shapley, a UCLA associate professor of physics and astronomy, said. "The
vast majority of old galaxies look like train wrecks. Our first thought
was, why is this one so different, and so beautiful?"

The mix of galaxy structures in the early universe was quite
different, with a much greater diversity and larger fraction of
irregular galaxies, Shapley said in a UCLA release Wednesday.

So the graceful form of this early galaxy has astronomers expressing surprise.

"The fact that this galaxy exists is astounding," lead study author
David Law of the University of Toronto said. "Current wisdom holds that
such 'grand-design' spiral galaxies simply didn't exist at such an early
time in the history of the universe."

A "grand design" galaxy has prominent, well-formed spiral arms.

Law and Shapley think the answer to the unexpected shape may have to
do with a companion dwarf galaxy and the gravitational interaction
between the two galaxies.