An ultramassive monster galaxy dating back to the early days of the universe lived fast and died young, astronomers say in a new study.
The galaxy, XMM-2599, existed 12 billion years ago. It rapidly formed a bunch of stars and died, according to data and measurements astronomers took using the W. M. Keck Observatory's Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration. The observatory is near the summit of the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.
"XMM-2599 may be a descendant of a population of high star-forming, dusty galaxies in the very early universe that new infrared telescopes have recently discovered," said Danilo Marchesini, study co-author and an associate professor of astronomy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.Meet MAMBO-9, one of the most distant galaxies to ever be observedBut astronomers are unsure of how the giant galaxy evolved. It's unusual when compared to other known galaxies in size.
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