In a study published recently, astronomer Sanchayeeta Borthakur from Arizona State University has identified the faint fuel reservoirs surrounding galaxies, and how much fuel can fall into galaxies, enabling them to form new planetary systems and stars.
A Phys.org report said that most galaxies, including the Earth's, are growing by "accumulating new materials," and transforming them into stars, which is much known.
It added, what has been identified is where the new material is coming from, and how it's flowing into galaxies to produce stars.
The astronomer's study has recently been published in the American Astronomical Society's Astrophysical Journal.
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This handout image of the giant, active galaxy NGC 1275, obtained August 21, 2008 was taken using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in July and August 2006.
Formation of New Planets and Stars
Past studies in the field of the formation of stars proposed that certain galaxies are generating more stars compared to what their reserve of star-forming gas would permit.
This inferred to Borthakur, an Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration assistant professor, that new gas must be coming into galaxies, not to mention supporting the formation of new planets and stars.
The assistant professor explained the observations of galaxies are akin to looking through the window of an airplane at night and viewing bright city lights surrounded by darkness.
Borthakur also explained that Discovering this source of fuel is like finding that in the darkness like the farm and supply routes, supporting the populaces in the cities.
A 'Cross-Correlation' Approach Used
To identify where the gas might be coming from, the assistant professor used a statistical approach which is called "cross-correlation," to gauge the link between two quantities, as well as the data from two publicly available astronomy catalogs including the ALFALFA survey from the Arecibo telescope, and the Survey of the Low-Redshift Intergalactic Medium from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
With the said data, Borthacur was able to gauge how gas-rich galaxies were linked to clouds seen in the intergalactic medium.
It is similar to discovering the presence, as well as the location of gas stations in an image of a city that is filled with vehicles, she elaborated.
Borthakur expressed hope, saying that for the next step, she is looking forward to identifying the pathways toward which such gas clouds can approach the internal regions of the galaxies where there is the formation of the stars.
She also said galaxies like the Earth will continue growing by forming a lot of solar systems as new material comes into existence.
Understanding that particular source of the star fuel enables them to foretell if there will formation of the stars in the future, Borthakur continued.
Gas-Rich Galaxies
According to a report from The College of Information Sciences and Technology, there are just a few dark galaxy candidates found at present in the local Universe, "with one of the most protruding such objects, specifically "the SW component" in a merging system known as the "HI 1225+01."
Simultaneously, the number of identified metal-poor gas-rich dwarfs, akin to I Zw 18 and SBS 0335-052 E,W have dramatically grown during the past 10 years, from a dozen and a half to roughly five dozens. A lot of these gas-rich dwarfs are said to be extremely gas-rich.
For many of them, with the existing deep photometry, no evidence of old stars has been discovered. Approximately half of such galaxies with protruding starbursts have more or less clear evidence of interactions which include advanced mergers.
Related information about galaxies is shown on Planet Live's YouTube video below:
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