starburst galaxy – Astronomy Now

A titanic burst of star formation in Milky Way’s recent past

17 December 2019 Astronomy Now

Peering into the heart of the Milky Way with a powerful infrared camera, astronomers see evidence for a titanic burst of star formation in the relatively recent past.

ALMA focuses on factors influencing star birth in nearby galaxies

30 April 2019 Astronomy Now

The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array, or ALMA, is in the process of studying stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies to learn more about the factors influencing rates of star formation and the roles a host galaxy’s overall structure and dynamics might play.

SOFIA captures magnetic tapestry at the core of M82

23 April 2019 Astronomy Now

M82, a favourite target for amateur and professional astronomers alike, is the nearest starburst galaxy with a brilliant core 100 times more luminous than the Milky Way’s. Astronomers have detected and mapped the galaxy’s magnetic field in a dramatic composite image.

ALMA reveals dusty anatomy of an ancient starburst galaxy

3 September 2018 Astronomy Now

New observations of a starburst galaxy using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array resolve vast, unstable clouds thousands of light years apart that are thought to be sites for rapid-fire star formation.

Glittering suns in a ‘starburst ring’ stretching around the core of Messier 94

18 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Messier 94, a relatively nearby galaxy, features two distinct rings of star formation, the result of pressure waves sweeping outward from the core. This 2015 image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxy’s inner region and starburst ring.

Hubble reveals a galaxy fit to burst

18 July 2016 Astronomy Now

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the vibrant core of the galaxy NGC 3125, approximately 50 million light-years away. Discovered by John Herschel in 1835, NGC 3125 is a great example of a starburst galaxy — a galaxy in which unusually high numbers of new stars are forming, springing to life within intensely hot clouds of gas.

Hubble sees a lonely starburst galaxy

11 July 2016 Astronomy Now

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an isolated starburst galaxy named MCG+07-33-027. The galaxy lies some 300 million light-years away from us, and is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high rate of star formation — a starburst. Normal galaxies produce only a couple of new stars per year, but starburst galaxies can produce a hundred times more than that!

Hubble views the iridescent interior of a starburst galaxy

27 June 2016 Astronomy Now

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the glittering interior of one of the most active galaxies in our local neighbourhood — NGC 1569, a small starburst galaxy located about eleven million light-years away in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis. For almost 100 million years, NGC 1569 has pumped out stars over 100 times faster than the Milky Way.

Starburst-induced superwinds from galaxy’s heart tells tale of a merger

4 February 2016 Astronomy Now

An international team led by a researcher from Hiroshima University has succeeded in revealing the detailed structure of a massive ionised gas outflow streaming from the starburst galaxy NGC 6240, 350 million light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. The team used the Suprime-Cam mounted on the 8.2-metre Subaru Telescope on Maunakea in Hawaii.

The brilliant core of a starburst galaxy

8 December 2015 Astronomy Now

This image taken by NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases the brilliant core of NGC 1569 in the constellation Camelopardalis, one of the most active galaxies in our local neighbourhood. The entire core is 5000 light-years wide.