RIVERSIDE, California: Astronomers have discovered one of the most distant galaxies, which also produces stars at a surprisingly high rate.

The astronomers, led by Bahram Mobasher, discovered GN-108036 – a blob-shaped galaxy which is 12.9 billion light years from earth, according to science news monitoring website Eureka Alert.

This is also the brightest ever galaxy discovered at such a great distance, say the scientists, who observed the galaxy with Nasa’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes.

The galaxy is producing the stars at the rate of 100 stars per year.

The GN-108036 galaxy needs 12.9 billion years to reach earth, giving a very distant snapshot of the cosmic history.

Astronomers also observed a large value in the galaxy’s “redshift” – a physical measurement in spectrum of cosmic objects, which shows the continuous displacement of objects with reference to earth. Scientists have observed a few galaxies having redshifts greater than 7, but the GN-108036 has the redshift of 7.2.

Astronomers believe that the discovery will shed new light on the early evolution of galaxies and help to understand the initial state of the universe.