Census of Universe Finds Hundreds of Starburst Galaxies Throughout History

Create hundreds of suns a year while a galaxy like ours produces about one

By combining the observing powers of ESA's Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes, astronomers have characterised hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies, revealing extraordinary high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe.

Starburst galaxies give birth to hundreds of solar masses' worth of stars each year in short-lived but intense events.