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“This galaxy is just one spectacular example, but it’s telling us that extremely vigorous star formation was possible early in the universe,” Jamie Bock, professor of physics at Caltech and a co-author of the paper, said in a release.

The newfound galaxy is called HFLS3, and was generating the equivalent of 2,900 suns per year, which made it one of the largest star producers in the universe. Because of this, it got the designation as a “Maximum Starburst” galaxy.

The research team that found HFLS3 used the ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory to find it.

“Looking for the first examples of these massive star factories is like searching for a needle in a haystack; the Herschel dataset is extremely rich,” says Dominik Riechers of Cornell University, who led the investigation.

The data is further proof that the universe developed complex stellar bodies not only much earlier than we may have thought, but also much earlier than our own Galaxy and star system did. It’s entirely possible that the universe was filled with complex life far before the human race was anything more than dust.

That said, this isn’t proof that would completely upend current thought on star formation, as it is only one example of an early star factory.

“This galaxy is just one spectacular example, but it’s telling us that extremely vigorous star formation is possible early in the universe,” Bock told NASA.