Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), revealing an extreme, previously unknown type of star-forming galaxy. This celestial powerhouse, known as Galaxy Y1, is a “superheated star factory” that offers a rare glimpse into the universe’s rapid growth just after its infancy.
A Glimpse 13 Billion Years Back in Time.
The significance of this discovery is tied to its immense distance. The light from Galaxy Y1 has traveled for over 13 billion years to reach us, meaning astronomers are observing the galaxy as it existed only about 600 million years after the Big Bang.
This puts Y1 among the earliest and most distant star-forming systems ever studied.
Here is a visualization of a distant, superheated star-forming galaxy like Y1:
The Extreme Star-Formation Rate.
The most remarkable characteristic of Galaxy Y1 is its phenomenal rate of stellar creation. This distant galaxy is forming new stars at a rate 180 times faster than our own Milky Way galaxy.
This superheated activity, measured by researchers led by Tom Bakx at Chalmers University of Technology, is crucial for solving a major cosmological puzzle: how did some galaxies manage to grow so massive and evolve so quickly in the very young universe?
The existence of extreme, hyper-productive star factories like Y1 offers a compelling explanation for this rapid early galactic growth. The high temperature of the cosmic dust detected by ALMA confirms the immense energy and star-forming output of this ancient galaxy.