For the first time, new images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed galaxies with stellar bars at a time when the universe was a quarter of its present age. 

Stellar bars are elongated features of stars that stretch from the centers of galaxies into their outer disks. They funnel gas into central regions, boosting star formation.

In a release, the University of Texas said the find of the barred galaxies will require scientists to fine-tune their theories of galaxy evolution, and noted that the Hubble Space Telescope had never detected bars at such young epochs. 

For example, while the galaxy EGS-23205 appears blurry in a Hubble image, the image from Webb is more defined, revealing a spiral galaxy with a clear stellar bar.

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The James Webb Space Telescope has a larger mirror, giving it more light-gathering ability and allowing it to see farther with higher resolution. 

As it observes longer infrared wavelengths than Hubble, it can also see through dust better.

"I took one look at these data, and I said, ‘We are dropping everything else!’" Shardha Jogee, professor of astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement, describing data from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS).

Another barred galaxy, EGS-24268, is also from about 11 billion years ago – making two barred galaxies existing farther back in time than previously discovered.

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The international group of researchers highlighted these galaxies and showed examples of four others from more than 8 billion years ago in an article in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

Two undergraduate students played a key role by visually reviewing hundreds of galaxies and searching for those that could be analyzed with a more stringent mathematical approach.

Bars also aid in the formation of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, channeling the gas part of the way. 

The existence of these bars, the university said, challenges theoretical models, and the team will be testing different models in additional work.

"This discovery of early bars means galaxy evolution models now have a new pathway via bars to accelerate the production of new stars at early epochs," Jogee said.

Police are growing more concerned about the condition of a missing Massachusetts mom of three who was last seen early New Year's Day.

The missing person case of Ana Walshe, 39, became more mysterious after her former home caught fire Friday afternoon, police said. 

Walshe, 39, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, was reported missing Wednesday after leaving her home around 4 a.m. New Year's Day to get into a rideshare heading to Logan International Airport in Boston to Washington D.C., Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley told reporters Friday morning.

"Every hour, we're getting more concerned for her well-being," Quigley told "Fox & Friends Weekend" Saturday. "We have more questions than answers."

He reiterated the statement later in the TV interview when asked about the two-alarm fire, which Quigley called "very strange circumstances" and said it's being investigated. 

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Cohasset Fire Chief John Dockray said on Friday that three adults and young child escaped the blaze on Jerusalem Road without any injuries, and the cause of the fire is underdetermined and remains under investigation. 

But the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Cohasset Police said it "does not appear to be suspicious."

Walshe was head to D.C. where she works for the real estate company Tishman Speyer, which told Fox News Digital that it was assisting authorities "in their ongoing search for our beloved colleague, Ana, and are praying for her safe return."

Quigley revealed Saturday that Cohasett detectives and Massachusetts State Police troopers are traveling to D.C. to conduct interviews and chase leads alongside D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department.

Alissa Kirby, identified as a friend of Walshe, told WCVB that she's concerned because Walshe wouldn't go this long without talking to her husband or her young sons, whose ages range from two to six years old.

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"She's a loving and loyal wife and mother of three beautiful boys," Kirby told WCVB.

Walshe hasn't left any digital footprint since vanishing and her cell phone has been shut off, police said. 

She was first reported missing Wednesday, the same day she had a plane ticket out of Boston Logan International Airport. 

However, she did not get on that plane, and detectives were told she was heading back to D.C. early on New Year's Day to handle an emergency linked to one of the properties she manages.

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Her disappearance is being treated as a missing person's case thus far, Quigley said, noting that there is "nothing to support anything suspicious or criminal."

Another wrinkle in the case is her husband's criminal past. 

Brian Walshe, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in 2021 after being arrested a few years earlier for selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings to a South Korean buyer for $80,000, according to federal prosecutors.

Quigley said that case appears to be unrelated to Ana Walshe's disappearance. He said Brian Walshe, who said he was asleep at the time Ana walked out the door early Sunday, is cooperating with investigators.

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Police describe Ana Walshe as being 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing around 115 pounds.

"She has brown hair, brown eyes and has an olive complexion," authorities said. "It is believed that she speaks with an Eastern European accent."