James Webb Space Telescope Reveals That Most Galaxies Rotate Clockwise (smithsonianmag.com)
(Wednesday April 02, 2025 @04:30AM (BeauHD)
from the what-gives dept.)
- Reference: 0176899999
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/04/02/0651224/james-webb-space-telescope-reveals-that-most-galaxies-rotate-clockwise
- Source link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/james-webb-space-telescope-reveals-that-most-galaxies-rotate-clockwise-180986224/
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that a [1]surprising majority of galaxies rotate clockwise , challenging the long-held belief in a directionally uniform universe; this anomaly could suggest either our universe originated inside a rotating black hole or that astronomers have been misinterpreting the universe's expansion due to observational biases. Smithsonian Magazine reports:
> The problem is that astronomers have long posited that galaxies should be evenly split between rotating in one direction or the other, astronomer Dan Weisz from the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved with the study, wrote for Astronomy [2]back in 2017 . "This stems from the idea that we live in an 'isotropic' universe, which means that the universe looks roughly the same in every direction. By extension, galaxies shouldn't have a preferred direction of spin from our perspective," he added. According to Shamir, there are two strong potential explanations for this discrepancy. One explanation is that the universe came into existence while in rotation. This theory would support what's known as black hole cosmology: the hypothesis that our universe exists within a black hole that exists within another parent universe. In other words, black holes create universes within themselves, meaning that the black holes in our own universe also lead to other baby universes.
>
> "A preferred axis in our universe, inherited by the axis of rotation of its parent black hole, might have influenced the rotation dynamics of galaxies, creating the observed clockwise-counterclockwise asymmetry," Nikodem Poplawski, a theoretical physicist at the University of New Haven who was not involved in the study, [3]tells Space.com's Robert Lea . "The discovery by the JWST that galaxies rotate in a preferred direction would support the theory of black holes creating new universes, and I would be extremely excited if these findings are confirmed."
>
> Another possible explanation involves the Milky Way's rotation. Due to an effect called the Doppler shift, astronomers expect galaxies rotating opposite to the Milky Way's motion to appear brighter, which could explain their overrepresentation in telescopic surveys. "If that is indeed the case, we will need to re-calibrate our distance measurements for the deep universe," Shamir explains in the statement. "The re-calibration of distance measurements can also explain several other unsolved questions in cosmology such as the differences in the expansion rates of the universe and the large galaxies that according to the existing distance measurements are expected to be older than the universe itself."
The findings have been [4]published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/james-webb-space-telescope-reveals-that-most-galaxies-rotate-clockwise-180986224/
[2] https://www.astronomy.com/science/do-all-spiral-galaxies-rotate-in-the-same-direction-and-how-can-i-tell-the-rotation-from-a-photo/
[3] https://www.space.com/space-exploration/james-webb-space-telescope/is-our-universe-trapped-inside-a-black-hole-this-james-webb-space-telescope-discovery-might-blow-your-mind
[4] https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/538/1/76/8019798?login=false
> The problem is that astronomers have long posited that galaxies should be evenly split between rotating in one direction or the other, astronomer Dan Weisz from the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved with the study, wrote for Astronomy [2]back in 2017 . "This stems from the idea that we live in an 'isotropic' universe, which means that the universe looks roughly the same in every direction. By extension, galaxies shouldn't have a preferred direction of spin from our perspective," he added. According to Shamir, there are two strong potential explanations for this discrepancy. One explanation is that the universe came into existence while in rotation. This theory would support what's known as black hole cosmology: the hypothesis that our universe exists within a black hole that exists within another parent universe. In other words, black holes create universes within themselves, meaning that the black holes in our own universe also lead to other baby universes.
>
> "A preferred axis in our universe, inherited by the axis of rotation of its parent black hole, might have influenced the rotation dynamics of galaxies, creating the observed clockwise-counterclockwise asymmetry," Nikodem Poplawski, a theoretical physicist at the University of New Haven who was not involved in the study, [3]tells Space.com's Robert Lea . "The discovery by the JWST that galaxies rotate in a preferred direction would support the theory of black holes creating new universes, and I would be extremely excited if these findings are confirmed."
>
> Another possible explanation involves the Milky Way's rotation. Due to an effect called the Doppler shift, astronomers expect galaxies rotating opposite to the Milky Way's motion to appear brighter, which could explain their overrepresentation in telescopic surveys. "If that is indeed the case, we will need to re-calibrate our distance measurements for the deep universe," Shamir explains in the statement. "The re-calibration of distance measurements can also explain several other unsolved questions in cosmology such as the differences in the expansion rates of the universe and the large galaxies that according to the existing distance measurements are expected to be older than the universe itself."
The findings have been [4]published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/james-webb-space-telescope-reveals-that-most-galaxies-rotate-clockwise-180986224/
[2] https://www.astronomy.com/science/do-all-spiral-galaxies-rotate-in-the-same-direction-and-how-can-i-tell-the-rotation-from-a-photo/
[3] https://www.space.com/space-exploration/james-webb-space-telescope/is-our-universe-trapped-inside-a-black-hole-this-james-webb-space-telescope-discovery-might-blow-your-mind
[4] https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/538/1/76/8019798?login=false
Interesting finding (Score:2)
by Zocalo ( 252965 )
I wonder if this might also have something to do with some of the other statistical biases we find in nature. Things like the chirality of proteins, or even why we have a preponderance of matter vs. anti-matter. We find the same geometric patterns at all sorts of different scales - like the curl of a fern to the arms of a spiral galaxy - so an inherent direction of rotation might be another common factor.
Because the aliens all drive on the left (Score:2)
by greytree ( 7124971 )
Aliens drive on the left, so their roundabouts go round clockwise. Obviously
This is because they didn't have Napoleon making them drive on the right.
So, someone on the other side of the universe... (Score:1)
Is seeing them rotating counterclockwise, which restores the symmetry, no?
Re: (Score:1)
No. Use your left hand and curl your fingers around clockwise keeping your thumb out. Now flip your hand over, notice that your thumb is still oriented the same with respect to your fingers.
Re: So, someone on the other side of the universe. (Score:3)
Lift your hand in front of your face such that you are looking at the back of it. Now curl your fingers into a fist and then raise up only middle finger.
Re: (Score:2)
If there's sides it's not isotropic.
Re: (Score:2)
Someone on the other side of a galaxy we're observing would indeed see it spin the other way. But observing this way gives an even distribution. This study looked at the spin of other galaxies relative to the spin of the milky way. A modern astrophysicist would expect an even distribution, but that's not what's observed. This is all very new and they haven't ruled out experimental error.