#telescopelive

Telescope Live Observatory @TelescopeLiveHQ · #TLPOD winning image (24/05/2023): RIM NEBULA Image processed by Fred Zimmer, original data from TelescopeLive.

Astronomers at the University of California, Riverside have discovered a peculiar ultramassive galaxy that existed for only a brief time in the early universe before becoming inactive. The ultramassive galaxy, known as XMM-2599, exploded with star formation before the universe was even 2 billion years old. By 1 billion years after the Big Bang, the galaxy had formed a mass equal to over 300 billion suns—the single most massive galaxy we've ever discovered from that timeframe. By 1.8 billion years, the galaxy had stopped formation entirely, which poses a fascinating question, why did it suddenly stop?