A galaxy 12.4 billion light years away has been spotted stealing mass from three smaller intergalactic neighbours to feed the supermassive black hole at its centre.
The cannibalism fuels the celestial object and has allowed it to become the brightest galaxy ever seen by astronomers, with a brightness of 350 trillion suns.
It has been dubbed W2256 by astronomers who were able to spot the streams of matter being plundered from nearby galaxies fin order to maintain its incredible brightness.
W2256 belongs to a rare class of quasars - a massive and extremely remote celestial object - known as Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxy (HotDOG) and only one out of every 3,000 quasars belongs to this class.
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The cannibalism of W2256 which is 12.4 billion light years away fuels the large galaxy and has allowed it to become the brightest one ever seen by scientists as it emits 350 times more light that our sun (artist's impression)
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reveal the interstellar robbery as astronomers were able to witness the flow of matter from one galaxy to another.
It is not the largest or most massive galaxy ever mapped, but it is unrivalled in its brightness.
This galaxy's luminosity is powered by a tiny disk of gas that is being superheated as it spirals in on the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's centre.
Surrounding dust absorbs this fantastically bright light and emits it as infrared radiation.
Much of the dust and gas being siphoned away from the three smaller galaxies is likely being converted into new stars and feeding the larger galaxy's central black hole, the researchers say.
They also reveal the galaxy's gluttony could lead to its demise and eventual self-destruction.
Scientists have heralded ALMA's remarkable resolution and sensitivity as the reason for the breakthrough and said the discovery of these remarkably faint and trans-galactic streamers was made possible by the Chilean telescope.
The connecting tendrils that incriminate W2256 in the robbery of the galactic material contain about as much mass as some galaxies, scientists believe.
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reveal the interstellar robbery as astronomers were able to witness the flow of matter from the three galaxies into W2256 (pictured)
This image shows W2246 and its companion galaxies C1, C2 and C3. Astronomers were able to spot streams of matter being plundered from nearby galaxies for the purposes of maintaining its incredible brightness
'We knew from previous data that there were three companion galaxies, but there was no evidence of interactions between these neighbours and the central source,' said Tanio Díaz-Santos of the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, lead author of the study.
'We weren't looking for cannibalistic behaviour and weren't expecting it, but this deep dive with the ALMA observatory makes it very clear.'
Galactic cannibalism is not uncommon, though this is the most distant galaxy in which such behaviour has been observed.
The researchers say this may be the first direct image of a galaxy simultaneously feeding on material from multiple sources at the formative years of the universe.
They claim the amount of gas being devoured by W2246 is enough to sustain the galaxy and allow it to form stars and feed its internal black hole for hundreds of millions of years.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Science.
WHAT IS ALMA?
Deep in the Chilean desert, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, or ALMA, is located in one of the driest places on Earth.
At an altitude of 16,400ft, roughly half the cruising height of a jumbo jet and almost four times the height of Ben Nevis, workers had to carry oxygen tanks to complete its construction.
Switched on in March 2013, it is the world's most powerful ground based telescope.
It is also the highest on the planet and, at almost £1 billion ($1.2 billion), one of the most expensive of its kind.
Deep in the Chilean desert, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, or ALMA, is located in one of the driest places on Earth. Switched on in March 2013, it is the world's most powerful ground based telescope
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Main photo article A galaxy 12.4 billion light years away has been spotted stealing mass from three smaller intergalactic neighbours to feed the supermassive black hole at its centre.
The cannibalism fuels the celestial object and has allowed it to become the brightest galaxy ever seen by astronomers, with a ...
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Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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