Exploring the Strangest and Most Mysterious Finds in the Universe

7. The Galaxy of Cigars

Found Year: 1774 Who Found It: Bode, Johann Elert Location: M82 - The Cigar Galaxy Brightly glowing at infrared wavelengths, M82, also called the Cigar galaxy, is notable for its star production activity.The closest galaxy, M81, and the Cigar galaxy interact gravitationally, leading to a starburst that can best be defined as an unusually rapid rate of star production.

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The Galaxy of Cigars ©Shutterstock/Bruce Rolff The radiation and energetic particles emitted by these stars create a cosmic wind that compresses enough gas to support millions of more stars. There will come a point in time when the galaxy's fast pace of star production exceeds its self-imposed limit. A star formation that accelerates too swiftly will be consumed or destroyed.

8. An Expanding Galaxy City

Found Year: 2007. It Was Discovered by: A team of astronomers Where: COSMOS-AzTEC3 Something fascinating and enjoyable happened in 2011. Situated in a far-off galaxy cluster, the COSMOS-AzTEC3 galaxy cluster was found by a group of scientists using the Spitzer space observatory. The light from this galaxy cluster had to travel for even longer than 12 billion years to reach Earth.

Expanding Intergalactic City ©JPL-Caltech/Subaru/NASA/Wikimedia Commons Astronomers believe that this very particular type of object, called a proto-cluster, evolved into current galaxy clusters, which are collections of galaxies locked together by a gravitational field. COSMOS-AzTEC3 was the farthest-flung proto-cluster discovered to that point. It has improved scientists' comprehension of how galaxies have evolved and altered over the course of the cosmos.