Discover Why ‘Fossil Galaxy’ Has Remained Unchanged for 7 Billion Years: A Journey Through Time

Astronomers have made an exciting discovery: a “fossil galaxy” named KiDS J0842+0059, located about 3 billion light-years from Earth. This galaxy is special because it hasn’t changed for about 7 billion years, making it the most distant relic galaxy found so far. Fossil galaxies, also known as relic galaxies, formed stars rapidly at first but have since gone quiet. They don’t typically merge with other galaxies, and researchers say there might only be one of these for every several million galaxies.

A team from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics confirmed this discovery using images from Arizona’s Large Binocular Telescope. These galaxies are compact and full of ancient stars but show little to no new star formation. Chiara Spiniello, a co-author of the study, described them as “doing nothing,” acting as a kind of cosmic time capsule. She noted that 99.5% of the stars in KiDS J0842+0059 were formed very early in the universe’s history.

Crescenzo Dove, another researcher, compared fossil galaxies to dinosaurs. By studying these ancient galaxies, scientists can learn how the massive galaxies we see today developed. They believe that fossil galaxies grew quickly in their early years and avoided later stages of growth, which involve merging and changing shapes. One leading theory is that supermassive black holes might be keeping them from merging with their neighbors, but the exact reason is still unclear.

While the galaxy might have planets, spotting them will be a challenge due to its high density. “It’ll be super crowded,” Spiniello explains, noting that we are observing KiDS J0842+0059 as it was 3 billion years ago. It could remain unchanged for a very long time, offering a unique chance to study how galaxies evolve—or in this case, simply sit frozen in time.

This discovery adds to our understanding of the universe and highlights how rare and valuable fossil galaxies are. As we look deeper into space, we continue to uncover these ancient structures, revealing secrets about the cosmos and its history. For more insights into galaxies like KiDS J0842+0059, check out the findings mentioned in CNN and Space.com.

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