JWST Finds 'Platypus Galaxies' That Shouldn't Exist

Scientists just discovered galaxies so weird they named them after one of Earth's strangest animals.

Nine mysterious cosmic objects spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope are baffling researchers with their impossible mix of features. Like the platypus, which confused early scientists by laying eggs while nursing its young, these galaxies combine characteristics that shouldn't exist together.

The galaxies are small and compact, yet they don't behave like anything astronomers have seen before. They're not quasars, the ultra-bright objects powered by massive black holes. They don't appear to host the active supermassive black holes typical of similar-sized galaxies.

Haojing Yan, an astronomer at the University of Missouri, presented the findings at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Phoenix this week. "You think that these things should not exist together, but there it is right in front of you, and it's undeniable," he said.

The confusion deepens when researchers examine the galaxies' light signatures. Typical quasars show broad, hill-shaped emission lines indicating fast-moving gas swirling around a central black hole. These new galaxies have narrow, sharp lines suggesting slow-moving gas, yet they don't match other known galaxy types either.

One exciting possibility is that these objects represent a completely new type of star-forming galaxy from the universe's earliest days. JWST was specifically designed to peer back in time to see the first galaxies, and it may be doing exactly that.

But even that explanation puzzles the research team. "The strange thing in that case is that the galaxies are so tiny and compact, even though Webb has the resolving power to show us a lot of detail at this distance," said Bangzheng Sun, a graduate student working on the project.

Why This Inspires

This discovery hints at something wonderful: we still have so much to learn about our universe. These platypus galaxies might reveal how the very first galaxies began forming, before the chaotic mergers and collisions that shaped the cosmos we see today.

The finding suggests that galaxy formation might have started in a quieter, more orderly way than scientists previously thought. Instead of violent crashes between massive clouds of gas and dust, perhaps the earliest galaxies assembled themselves gently, piece by piece.

The research team needs more examples to solve the mystery, but they've got time. JWST launched in 2021 and should continue observing for at least 15 more years, scanning the deepest reaches of space for answers hidden in ancient light.

Every strange discovery reminds us that the universe still holds surprises, and we're living in an era when we can actually see them for the first time.