A latest research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters has shown that the universe’s most luminous galaxy is at threat of tearing itself. Known as W2246-0526, the galaxy is present at a distance of 12.4 billion light-years from Earth. It is so consumed by turmoil that it is facing danger of ejecting its entire supply of star-forming gas.

The team made the discovery using cutting-edge technology in Chile’s Atacama Desert, and the repercussions of their efforts are significant as it can shed some light on the fate of both W2246-0526 and galaxies in general.

In an email interview with The Christian Science Monitor, Roberto Assef, co-author of the study and an astronomer with the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, said that the discovery has provided a fresh insight into the processes through which evolution of galaxies takes place.

Based at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the researchers were following on from work done by the US space agency NASA.

W2246-0526 has already been analyzed by the American space agency’s WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft. It has revealed that the infrared light ejected from the galaxy is shining as brightly as over 300 trillion suns.

Initially, ALMA enabled a study of the real motion of the interstellar medium of the galaxy, the gas and dust swirling between the stars.

Dr. Assef said, “It is known that every galaxy is formed having large amounts of interstellar gas from which new stars are constantly born. Such is the case for the Milky Way, for example, where new generations of stars are constantly being formed”.

Assef added that through their life, galaxies will ultimately lose their gas and thus the ability of forming new stars. Assef mentioned that they lack proper understanding of how this happens.