Scientists discover galaxy 1000 times brighter than Milky Way

A group of researchers discovered a very distant galaxy, which is about a thousand times brighter than the Milky Way.

As per the researchers, it is the brightest of the submillimetre galaxies, a class of ultraluminous infrared galaxies.

The discovery was published recently in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

How it is the brightest ever galaxy?

• To measure this galaxy, the researchers used the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma) in Spain.

• In order to identify the brightest submillimetre galaxies, researchers carried out a search of the whole sky, combining the data bases of NASA's WISE satellite and European Space Agency's Planck satellite.

• The galaxy's light, amplified by a much nearer galaxy cluster acting as a lens, forms an image which appears much bigger than it should, and it is due to this effect that the researchers could characterise its nature and properties spectroscopically using the GTC.

• This phenomenon, known as gravitational lensing, is comparable to that produced by lenses on light rays, and acts as a sort of magnifier, changing the size and intensity of the apparent image of the original object.

• Due to the gravitational lens produced by a cluster of galaxies between ourselves and the source, which acts as if it was a telescope, the galaxy appears 11 times bigger and brighter than it really is.

• The galaxy is notable for having a high rate of star formation. It is forming stars at a rate of 1000 solar masses per year, compared to the Milky Way, which is forming stars at a rate of some twice a solar mass per year.