'Monster Galaxy'
Is Forming Stars
1,000 Times Faster
Than Milky Way Astronomers have captured
the most detailed view
yet of a "monster galaxy"
generating stars like crazy. This type of galaxy is referred to as
a starburst galaxy. Such galaxies are believed to be the ancestors of today's elliptical galaxies. This particular galaxy, called
COSMOS-AzTEC-1, was found
by researchers at the National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The galaxy is approximately
12.4 billion light years away,
and contains unstable molecular clouds
that are causing the rapid star formation. Ken-ichi Tadaki, lead author, via 'USA Today' The team put a map together by using the
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array, to show how the gas moves
in the galaxy. It is estimated that the gas from the galaxy will be consumed 10 times
faster than other
star-forming galaxies.