ABSTRACT
It is proposed that most of the very high-luminosity IRAS galaxies, those which emit greater than or equal to 10 to the 12th solar luminosities nearly all in the far infrared out to 100 microns, are very young systems with ages less than or equal to 10 to the 9th years. The luminosity comes largely from stars with masses near 100 solar masses which evolve rapidly, ejecting much of their mass as elements heavier than hydrogen. The gas ejected condenses into dust in circumstellar shells. The prototype star in the Galaxy which shows all of these attributes is Eta Car. It is shown that total masses of order 10 to the 7th-10 to the 8th solar masses condensed into such stars can produce the observed luminosities, and that 10-100 generations of such stars will produce enough dust (about 10 to the 8th solar masses) to explain the observed infrared luminosities. If this hypothesis is correct the composition of gas and dust may well be highly anomalous, and there should be no old stars with ages about 10 to the 10th years present. Initial star formation is probably triggered by interactions with close companion galaxies.