New, Distant 'Dead' Galaxy Perplexes | The Institute for Creation Research

New, Distant 'Dead' Galaxy Perplexes

Key features in a newly discovered distant galaxy produce a puzzle for nature-only origins.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope imaged the oddity, named MACS2129-1. Sune Toft, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen, led a research team that accessed Hubble to investigate this out-of-place galaxy.1 Toft’s team published details in Nature.2

Gravity from an in-between cluster of galaxies effectively magnified (by a factor of 4.6) the light from MACS2129-1. This natural magnification distorted, but enlarged, the galaxy’s image enough to reveal its mixture of unexpected features.

This galaxy rotates like a spiral galaxy, even though it has few blue stars that typify spiral galaxies. Since secular physicists assume a billions-of-years-old universe, they attribute short-lived blue stars to recent, natural formation—but so far no one has actually observed star formation. In contrast, Genesis one says that God made the stars on Day four then finished crafting the world a few days later.

Elliptical galaxies typically have very few blue stars, whereas the arms of spiral galaxies tend to have many. So scientists who believe in active star formation assume that few stars form in rounded, elliptical, non-blue galaxies. Toft told the Niels Bohr Institute News, “Here [in elliptical galaxies] the stars seem to be all over the place, to move in all directions. And that was what we expected to find when we took a closer look at MACS2129-1.” But instead they found a first: A spiral galaxy with virtually no blue stars—a “dead” galaxy.

And this dead galaxy spins strangely fast. The team showed evidence that when compared to our Milky Way galaxy, MACS2129-1 has three times the mass, half the size, and yet spins more than twice as fast at over 500 km per second.1

How could the same set of natural circumstances produce such radically different galaxies?

 Niels Bohr Institute News said, “The finding is remarkable, as this pattern of stellar rotation in a dead galaxy strongly contradicts prevalent astrophysical theory regarding the formation of elliptical-shaped galaxies shortly after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.”

How often have astronomical discoveries strongly contradicted prevalent astrophysical (read: stellar evolutionary) theory? Simply peruse articles listed on the ICR topic page, “The Universe Was Created Powerfully” to see just a few of the many observations that keep contradicting secular theories about outer space.3

Secular scientists theorize that destructive collisions formed planets and moons, unseen clouds supply the comets we see today, hypothetical density waves formed galactic arms, unobserved dynamos regenerate magnetic fields in Earth and other planets, unobserved collapsing gas clouds formed solar systems and blue stars, and the universe emerged from nothing. But all of these ideas collide with new discoveries. MACS2129-1 marks the latest finding that shows God’s apparently whimsical creativity.

How can a distant, fast-winding, spiral galaxy without blue stars exist in a universe supposedly filled with random unintentional objects? By God’s intentional originality.

References

  1. Larsen, H. Unexpected rotation in a stone-dead galaxy. Niels Bohr Institute News. Posted on nbi.ku.dk June 20, 2017, accessed June 26, 2017.
  2. Toft, S., et al. 2017. A massive, dead disk galaxy in the early Universe. Nature. 546(7659): 510-513.
  3. The Universe Was Created Powerfully. Posted on ICR.org, accessed June 26, 2017.

*Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his M.S. in biotechnology from Stephen F. Austin State University..

Article posted on July 10, 2017.

The Latest
NEWS
Valued Longtime ICR Employee Mary Smith Retires
Mary Morris Smith, an employee of the Institute for Creation Research for many years, has retired. The second daughter of ICR founder Dr. Henry M. Morris...

NEWS
Man of Science, Man of God: George Washington Carver
Who:  George Washington Carver What: Father of Modern Agriculture When: 1864 or 1865 – January 5, 1943 Where: Diamond Grove,...

ACTS & FACTS
The Scopes Monkey Trial: A Battle of Worldviews
Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, and its statue of William Jennings Bryan Image credit: M. Mueller The Scopes Monkey...

ACTS & FACTS
Long Non-Coding RNAs: The Unsung Heroes of the Genome
Evolutionary theory holds that all living things came about through random, natural processes. So conventional scientists believe the genome has developed...

ACTS & FACTS
Yosemite National Park, Part 1: Tiny Clues of a Grand Picture
Yosemite National Park in California is a sure source of stunning scenery. It’s no wonder that American naturalist John Muir persuaded President...

ACTS & FACTS
From Inference to Theory: A Common Design Case Study
Without a doubt, humans, chimpanzees, and other organisms share similar features. An early explanation was that these features reflect similar designs...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: T. rex
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

ACTS & FACTS
Entering By The Door
Recently, I hosted a visiting pastor from a large church at ICR’s Discovery Center. As I guided him through our Dallas museum, one conversation...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Mission in Fiji
Michele discusses pages from Explore the World with boys at an orphanage Image credit: Brian Thomas In 2024 my wife, Michele,...

NEWS
Distant Galaxies Continue to Challenge the Big Bang
Recently, a team of scientists released data collected from 800,000 galaxies at different distances from Earth, all lying within the same narrow slice...