The galaxies are old. Very old. All galaxies are like this, but recently, scientists have discovered a galaxy that has remained essentially unchanged from its formation 13 billion years ago. Unlike all our other knowledge about the formation of galaxies, this galaxy is quite close to Earth. Segue 1 is a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. It is incredibly tiny, holding only a thousand or so stars. Because of this, it is believed that star evolution progressed no further than the first generation of stars born, as the galaxy was unable to develop further.
Spectrograph observations of the few red giants visible to telescopes show a heavy element concentration about 3,000 times less than what our sun has. There were no heavy elements in the early universe, only hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium. As a galaxy ages, more and more heavy elements are added to the galaxy via supernova. Since Segue 1 has so little, it must be both very old and almost completely unchanged from its original state. This discovery will give astronomers valuable insight into how galaxies formed.
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