Ready to hit the cosmic “waves” with the James Webb Space Telescope? Like a lifeguard on duty, Webb has scanned the horizon and spotted distant galaxies shaped like volleyballs, frisbees, pool noodles, and surfboards.

Researchers analyzing Webb’s data also found that the surfboard- and pool noodle-shaped galaxies were much more common when the universe was 600 million to 6 billion years old. This contrasts what we’ve previously confirmed for galaxies far closer to the “beach” with other telescopes. Nearby galaxies are often clearly defined spirals with star-studded arms, which also resemble frisbees, or smooth ellipticals, which also look like volleyballs.

It’s not yet clear if the new-to-us galaxy shapes evolved over all of cosmic time. Future research is required to tease out how galaxies’ 3D geometries transformed over more than 13 billion years.

Lee esta historia en español.