What are monster galaxies?

They are thought to be the ancestors of the huge elliptical galaxies in today’s universe and pave the way to understanding the formation and evolution of such galaxies. A unique characteristic of monster galaxies (or starburst galaxies as they are also called) is that they form stars at a startling pace —1,000 times higher than the star formation in our galaxy. On investigating one called COSMOS-AzTEC-1, an international team of astronomers has recently found that clouds throughout the galaxy are very unstable, which is unusual. The gas in COSMOS-AzTEC-1 will be completely consumed in 100 million years, which is 10 times faster than in other star forming galaxies. The findings have been published in Nature .