The James Webb Telescope has spotted a massive spiral galaxy, and its extreme age could challenge current understanding of galaxy formation.

Telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope can observe some incredibly distant galaxies, stretching all the way back to the early universe. However, spotting individual stars in distant galaxies is tricky even for Webb and its massive primary mirror.

The discovery marks the largest number of individual stars ever detected in the distant universe. The team's findings, which were published Monday in the journal Nature, also unveil a method of investigating dark matter,

The James Webb Space Telescope captured images of 44 individual stars in a gorgeous portrait of a distant galaxy.