The recently discovered galaxy XMM-2599 is three times the size of any other galaxy ever imaged. And models indicate it should have continued forming stars for well over a paltry billion years, but according to new research the supermassive galaxy only did so for about 800 Million years.
The researchers also determined that the galaxy created more than 1,000 suns' worth of stars every year during its activity peak. (For comparison, our Milky Way is currently forming just one solar mass of new stars annually.) But that peak is in the rearview mirror for XMM-2599; its star-birth engine has shut down, for reasons that remain unclear.
XMM-2599 is about 12 Billion light years from Earth, so observing the galaxy shows how it was early in the evolution of the universe, which is 13.82 Billion years old.
"Even before the universe was 2 billion years old, XMM-2599 had already formed a mass of more than 300 billion suns, making it an ultramassive galaxy," Benjamin Forrest, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California Riverside (UCR), said in a statement.
"More remarkably, we show that XMM-2599 formed most of its stars in a huge frenzy when the universe was less than 1 billion years old, and then became inactive by the time the universe was only 1.8 billion years old," added Forrest, the lead author of a new study reporting the discovery of XMM-2599.
Such monster galaxies are predicted by theory, however star formation is not predicted to die out in this fashion.
"The predicted galaxies [...] are expected to be actively forming stars" [According to study co-author Gillian Wilson.] "What makes XMM-2599 so interesting, unusual and surprising is that it is no longer forming stars, perhaps because it stopped getting fuel or its black hole began to turn on. Our results call for changes in how models turn off star formation in early galaxies."
Journal Reference:
Ben Forrest, et al. 2020 ApJL 890 L1, An Extremely Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z = 3.493: Evidence of Insufficiently Rapid Quenching Mechanisms in Theoretical Models - IOPscience (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab5b9f)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @12:32AM (2 children)
Everyone knows you entitled boomer scum wrecked the economy, and everyone knows you plan to be buried with your money because you are entitled boomer scum.
Die now. Nobody wants you around. Die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @01:16AM
Millenial losers ranting.
As a so-called "gen-xer", I feel bad.
Too bad, we don't give a fuxck.
Burrn, baby, burn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @02:22AM
Aww did someone get kicked out their parents' basement?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @01:40AM (4 children)
So scientists make a mistake about 300 billion stars, and we're supposed to believe their models about AGW?
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @01:57AM (3 children)
Different scientists.
For example, you (AC) were wrong. That does not mean that every AC is wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @02:04AM
300 billion anonymous cowards can't be wrong.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday February 09 2020, @02:31AM (1 child)
Let's use some AGW denier statistics:
The AC above is wrong, therefore EVERY AC is wrong*.
*Which I don't actually believe because I don't use AGW denier statistics.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday February 09 2020, @02:34AM
Correcting fat fingered post:
Let's use some AGW denier statistics:
The AC above is wrong, therefore EVERY AC is wrong*.
*Which I don't actually believe because I don't use AGW denier statistics.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @03:00AM (2 children)
Can someone please post something on topic?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @03:31AM (1 child)
No.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @05:09PM
Mod parent up.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday February 09 2020, @03:19AM
Second, even if a galaxy depletes its gas in this manner doesn't mean that it'll stay stagnant. Some might return. Or the existing stars would continue to spew gases out through stellar wind, novas, and of course, supernovas, partially restoring the interstellar environment.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @03:23AM (1 child)
Boomers just won't die fast enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @11:26AM
Don't worry, they're going extinct when you never get laid.