An ancient "monster galaxy" that generates stars around 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way has the science world buzzing after astronomers captured a detailed view of the astounding phenomenon, according to a paper published in Nature on Thursday.
Also known as starburst galaxies, these monster galaxies are believed to be the ancestors of today's modern galaxies.
An international team of researchers are hoping that this galaxy, located about 12.4 billion light-years from the Milky Way and called COSMOS-AzTEC-1, could provide insight into how other galaxies were formed and how they have evolved.
Co-author of the study, Min Yun, said they were surprised to find that the galaxy featured a massive, ordered gas disk that ran in regular rotation, which was contradictory to what the team had expected.
Most theoretical studies predicted this would result in "some kind of a disordered train wreck," Yun said in a statement.
The researchers noted that the gas disk was unstable, which means the entire gas disk that makes up this galaxy is fragmenting and undergoing a gigantic episode of starburst, which could help explain its enormous star formation rate.
In order to capture a detailed view of COSMOS-AzTEC-1, astronomers turned to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope and facility operated by an international partnership in Chile.
The team observed the galaxy and obtained a detailed map of the distribution and the motion of its cosmic gas.
"We found that there are two distinct large clouds several thousand light-years away from the center," explained lead author Ken-ichi Tadaki. "In most distant starburst galaxies, stars are actively formed in the center. So it is surprising to find off-center clouds."
Yun noted that up until now, experts could only speculate as to how these monster galaxies have been able to amass such a large quantity of gas and then turn the entire gas reserve into stars in the blink of an eye.
"We have the first answers now," he said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.