Astronomers discover a galaxy frozen in time for 7 billion years

An artist’s impression of a newly discovered gas giant exoplanet with a wide orbit. (Image: C.Tortora/INSPIRE/VST/ESO/LBT)

Imagine discovering a dinosaur well-preserved for billions of years. Now, swap that dinosaur with a galaxy. That's what astronomers have found millions of light-years away.

A faraway galaxy called KiDS J0842+0059 has remained stuck in time for close to 7 billion years. That uncommon cosmic relic has escaped collisions and galactic mergers since its formation.

A Time Capsule From the Early Universe
Scientists think that this galaxy functions as a cosmic time capsule. It provides insights into what the universe was like billions of years ago.

The discovery was made using the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona. The galaxy was first spotted in 2018 by the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS).

KiDS J0842+0059 lies around 3 billion light-years away from Earth. It holds a stellar mass almost 100 billion times that of the sun. Yet, it remains more compact than other galaxies of similar mass.

Astronomers found that this galaxy has stopped forming stars for most of its life. This quiet existence hinted it could be a true galactic fossil.

Sharper Eyes Unveil Hidden Secrets
To confirm its identity, the team used the LBT’s adaptive optics system. This produced images ten times sharper than earlier observations.

The stunning clarity removed doubts about the galaxy’s size and structure. The data confirmed it shares features with NGC 1277, another known cosmic fossil.

Chiara Spiniello, researcher at the University of Oxford, called it a major step. She said it’s the first time such high-resolution data captured a galaxy relic so far away.

A Clue to How Galaxies Evolve
Fossil galaxies like KiDS J0842+0059 reveal a hidden story. Unlike modern massive galaxies, these relics never merged or grew by swallowing other galaxies.

Crescenzo Dove, team co-leader from Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, explained their importance. He said studying these ancient galaxies helps us understand how the universe shaped itself.

Another team member, Vincenzo Tortora, highlighted the future potential. He said adaptive optics and powerful telescopes like LBT are key to finding more of these rare objects.

Researchers now seek to push this work further with the Euclid space telescope. They hope to find and analyze even more fossil galaxies trapped throughout the universe.

The complete research has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.