* Astronomy

Galaxy's rapid growth spurt may have spawned 3000 suns per year

Great galaxies can grow up fast. Extreme quantities of magnesium in a quiet specimen far away reveal it was once one of the wildest star creators in the universe.
The galaxy, named COSMOS 11494, is 10.7 billion light years away, so we see it when the universe was just 3.1 billion years old. Its the most distant galaxy in which astronomers have measured the abundances of both magnesium and iron.
Together, the two elements indicate how quickly the galaxy has spawned stars.
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