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WHAT IS A RELIC GALAXY AND HOW CAN YOU SPOT ONE?

Only one in a thousand massive galaxies is believed to be a relic galaxy, dating from the early universe.

They conserve intact the properties they had when they formed thousands of millions of years ago, stuck in an unproductive state of arrested development.

The telltale sign of a relic galaxy's state lies in ancient clusters of stars that swarm around them.

Massive galaxies tend to have both more recent metal-poor stars that appear as blue 'globular clusters' as well as metal-rich clusters which appear red.

The red clusters are believed to form as the galaxy forms, while the blue clusters are brought in later, as smaller satellites are swallowed by the central galaxy.

In the case of relic galaxy, these blue clusters are almost entirely absent.

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