Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute and Japan's National Astronomical Observatory have discovered the most distant dying galaxies known; it is about 12 billion light years away from us.
As indicated in the press release, the discovered galaxy contains more than a trillion stars (and is more massive than the Milky Way). It is noted that her discovery indicates that the "nuclei" of such systems were formed already 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang (astronomers studied the motion of stars in the found galaxy and found that its core was almost completely formed) - that is, approximately by a billion years earlier than anticipated.
(Dead galaxies are those that no longer produce stars. Moreover, those galaxies in which the star formation process "fades" are considered to be in the process of dying; such objects are not as dark as dead galaxies, and not as bright as living ones (in which is actively undergoing the process of star formation).)
Scientists note that the new discovery should complement knowledge about the formation of the Universe, and may also lead to a revision of the computer models used by astronomers. Two works are devoted to the discovery; they are published in the journals Astrophysical Journal Letters and Astrophysical Journal (1, 2).
