Scientist-led team of astronomers discovered an unusual monster galaxy that existed about 12 billion years ago when the universe was only 1.8 billion years old. Dubbed XMM-2599, the galaxy formed stars at a high rate and then died. The reason why it suddenly stopped forming stars is still unknown.
"Even before the universe was 2 billion years old, XMM-2599 had already formed a mass of more than 300 billion suns, making it an ultra massive galaxy," said Benjamin Forrest who is a researcher in the University of California.
The team used spectroscopic observation from the W.M. Keck Observatory's powerful Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration or MOSFIRE, to make detailed measurements of XMM-2599 and precisely quantify its distance.
The research team found XMM-2599 formed more than 1,000 solar masses a year in stars at its peak of activity--an extremely high rate of star formation. In contrast, the Milky Way forms about one new star a year.
The study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA.
(With inputs from ANI)
