All articles tagged with #star formation
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers mapped the Milky Way’s 650-light-year-wide Central Molecular Zone in unprecedented detail, revealing a complex network of dense, cold gas and molecules around Sagittarius A* to help explain how stars form in our galaxy’s extreme core.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope found that one of the universe’s brightest quasars appears to quench star formation not only in its host galaxy but also in neighboring galaxies within about a million light-years. The study of quasar J0100+2802 showed reduced ionized oxygen in nearby galaxies, indicating suppressed star birth likely caused by intense radiation and outflows from the active supermassive black hole, suggesting a galactic “ecosystem” where massive black holes influence galaxy evolution beyond their own hosts, especially in the early universe.
JWST observations of CEERS2-588 at redshift 11.04 (about 400 million years after the Big Bang) reveal a surprisingly massive (≈1.26 billion solar masses) and metal-rich galaxy with a high star-formation rate (~8.2 solar masses per year) and no AGN activity, implying efficient, episodic starbursts and rapid quenching that challenge current models of early galaxy formation.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures Lupus 3, a nearby star-forming molecular cloud in Scorpius, bustling with newborn stars. The multi-wavelength image reveals blue reflection nebulosity and dark dust lanes as T Tauri stars (under 10 million years old) emerge from collapsing gas, illustrating the early stages of stellar birth in this nearby stellar nursery.
Space.com reports a new Hubble image of the N159 star-forming complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken in a neighboring field to a recently released view. The image reveals thick hydrogen gas forming ridges and filaments, with bright red emission indicating regions where hot, young stars energize the surrounding gas. Studying this Milky Way–like environment, roughly 160,000 light-years away, helps astronomers understand how stellar radiation and winds shape clouds, drive feedback, and influence where new stars form.
Astronomers have observed a precessing, high-velocity jet from a supermassive black hole in VV 340a heating and ejecting gas across the galaxy, potentially quenching star formation; the outflow rate is about 19 solar masses per year, and multiwavelength data from JWST, Keck, VLA, and ALMA reveal how such black-hole activity can reshape galactic evolution.
JWST’s infrared portrait of Westerlund 2, a young, massive star cluster about 20,000 light-years away in Gum 29, shows thousands of stars and brown dwarfs—“failed stars” too light to fuse—identified via methane and PAH emission. The discovery sheds light on ongoing star formation and how planet-forming disks around massive stars evolve, offering a new window into the life cycles of stars in our galaxy.
Hubble images the NGC 1333 star-forming region, revealing a protostar with a surrounding planet-forming disk and a reflection nebula; the region, about 950 light-years away in the Perseus cloud, highlights how stars form and how their disks illuminate their birth environment.
Astronomers studying the nearby merging galaxy VV 340a detected kiloparsec-scale, precessing jets from its central black hole that heat and eject coronal gas, removing star-forming material at roughly 19 solar masses per year—an unusually large-scale example of black-hole feedback that may suppress star formation, though the merger could later reignite it.
Using JWST and ALMA, astronomers show Pablo's Galaxy (GS-10578) was starved by its central supermassive black hole, which expelled gas in repeated cycles, halting star formation about 400 million years ago; ALMA found little cold gas while JWST measured a current gas outflow of about 60 solar masses per year and speeds up to 2.2 million mph, indicating a slow starvation rather than a single catastrophic event. This mechanism may help explain old-looking galaxies seen by JWST in the early universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning image of the Westerlund 2 star cluster in the Carina Nebula, revealing for the first time the full population of brown dwarfs in this massive star-forming region, which helps astronomers understand star formation under extreme conditions.
A recent image captured by an astronaut aboard the ISS shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy rich in star-forming regions and supernova remnants, highlighting its significance in understanding stellar evolution and its dynamic role within the Local Group. The image emphasizes the contrast between Earth's atmosphere and the galaxy's energetic activity, inspiring public interest in cosmic exploration.
The Orion Nebula, known as the 'cosmic fire of creation,' is a prominent and easily visible star-forming region in the night sky, best seen from November to March, and can be observed with binoculars or a telescope, offering a spectacular view of the universe's birthplaces.
A new high-resolution image of the reflection nebula NGC 1333 and the binary star system SVS 13 reveals over 400 molecular rings, each marking past energetic outbursts from a young star, providing direct observational evidence of star formation processes and the history of stellar activity.
The James Webb Space Telescope captured a detailed image of the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, a highly efficient star-forming region about 26,000 light-years away, revealing complex chemical areas and offering clues to its extraordinary star production despite limited gas resources.