Star Baby Boom Seen in Distant Galaxies

Some of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever discovered, which were born only 4 billion years after the universe was formed, are producing baby stars at higher rates than closer galaxy clusters, a new study finds. The discovery suggests that something in the environment of clusters nearer to Earth is quenching star formation. In about 30 percent of the galaxies in distant clusters that should be forming stars, such formation isn't happening, the new study shows.