* Astronomy

A team led by an Indiana University astronomer has found a sample of massive galaxies with properties that suggest they may have formed relatively recently. This would run counter to the widely-held belief that massive, luminous galaxies (like our own Milky Way Galaxy) began their formation and evolution shortly after the Big Bang, some 13 billion years ago.
Further research into the nature of these objects could open new windows into the study of the origin and early evolution of galaxies.
John Salzer, principal investigator for the study published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, said that the 15 galaxies in the sample exhibit luminosities that indicate that they are massive systems like the Milky Way and other so-called "giant" galaxies. However, these particular galaxies are unusual because they have chemical abundances that suggest very little stellar evolution has taken place within them. Their relatively low abundances of "heavy" elements  imply the galaxies are cosmologically young and may have formed recently.

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