News Main
Animals
Archaeology
Dinosaurs
Earth
History
Human Animal
Space
Tech

Distant Galaxy Booming With Baby Stars

Irene Klotz, Discovery News

Finally, scientists used the Very Large Array radio observatory in New Mexico to calculate the galaxy's rate of star formation.

"We may be witnessing, for the first time, the formation of one of the most massive elliptical galaxies in the universe," concludes Nick Scoville, a CalTech astronomer and a co-author of the study.

If the galaxy, nicknamed Baby Boom, continues making stars at such high rates, within 50 million years -- just a blink in astronomical time scales -- it could become one of the most massive known galaxies in the universe.

The currently held theory of galaxy formation postulates that galaxies build up their stars over time as they slowly annex passing real estate. The Baby Boom galaxy is producing most of its stars all at once, Capak said.

"If our human population were produced in a similar boom, then almost all of the people alive today would be the same age," he said.

Related Links:

Irene Klotz's blog: Free Space

Discovery Space

How Stuff Works: Stars

Hubble Space Telescope

Subaru Telescope

Spitzer Space Telescope

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope