In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have identified three ultra-massive galaxies, dubbed “Red Monsters” capable of forming their own stars.
These galaxies earned the nickname “Red Monsters” due to their striking appearance as bright red blotches, a result of the vast amounts of dust they contain. Each of these galaxies is more than 12.8 billion years old and has a mass 100 billion times that of our Sun, nearly rivalling the size of the Milky Way.
An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), including Professor Stijn Wuyts from the University of Bath, discovered three ultra-massive celestial bodies — each almost as massive as the Milky Way — that had already formed within the first billion years after the Big Bang.
What sets these galaxies apart is their astonishing star formation efficiency, which exceeds expectations. They convert nearly 80% of their gas into stars, far outpacing other galaxies from the same era and surpassing typical galaxies in the history of the cosmos.
“While many processes in galaxy evolution limit how efficiently gas can turn into stars, these Red Monsters seem to have overcome these obstacles,” said Stijn Wuyts, a professor at the University of Bath and co-author of the study.
The discovery was part of the James Webb Space Telescope’s FRESCO survey program, utilising the telescope’s advanced instruments for deep space observation. While the find doesn’t challenge current models of the universe, it raises intriguing questions about our understanding of galaxy formation.
“These results suggest that galaxies in the early Universe could form stars much more efficiently than previously thought,” said Mengyuan Xiao, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva. “The Red Monsters represent the beginning of a new era in exploring the early Universe.”
This is not a new phenomenon - the three new galaxies are the latest in a series of discoveries that have forced astronomers to question their understanding of how early galaxies were formed.