Found the first galaxy whose brightness is comparable to that of a quasar

The galaxy, named BOSS-EUVLG1, has a redshift of 2.47. This is a measure of the redness of light,

coming from the galaxy.This data can be used to determine the distance to an object: the further away the galaxy, the greater the value. For BOSS-EUVLG1, the value of 2.47 means that the galaxy was observed when the Universe was about 2,000 million years old, about 20% of its current age.

Left and center: BOSS-EUVLG1 sky region highlighted in blue. Credit: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. Right: An artist-painted starburst in BOSS-EUVLG1, which contains a large number of young massive stars and is almost free of dust. Photo: Gabriel Perez Diaz, SMM (IAC)

Large redshift and luminosity valuesBOSS-EUVLG1 led to the fact that earlier in the BOSS (Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey) project it was classified as a quasar. However, recent observations with other instruments have shown that this is not a quasar, but in fact a galaxy with extreme exceptional properties.

Research has shown that high luminosityBOSS-EUVLG1 is due to the large number of young massive stars in the galaxy. It was she who led to the fact that initially this space object was identified as a quasar. However, in quasars, the high luminosity is associated with activity around supermassive black holes in their cores, and not with star formation.

The star formation rate in this galaxy is veryis high, about 1,000 solar masses per year, which is about 1,000 times that of the Milky Way, although the galaxy is 30 times smaller. "This star formation rate is only comparable to the brightest known infrared galaxies, but the absence of dust in BOSS-EUVLG1 allows its ultraviolet and visible radiation to reach Earth with little or no attenuation," concludes Ismael Perez Furnon, co-author of the paper.

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