Powerful Winds Save Ancient Starburst Galaxy from Burning Out
By Amber Jorgenson | September 6, 2018 2:11 pm
Researchers witness a one billion year old galaxy blow molecular gas to its outskirts to avoid an
overproduction of stars. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Spilker; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello;
AURA/NSF
The years following the Big Bang were undoubtedly an exciting time in our cosmological history, with galaxies birthing hundreds or even thousands of hot new stars each year. But despite rapid star formation being exhilarating, it’s far from sustainable.
Star Formation Secrets
Researchers have long wondered how these ancient starburst galaxies managed to conserve their gas and not burn out during the early years of their existence. One theory is that fierce winds would carry star-forming gas out to their borders, where it would either escape the galaxy or linger in the halo — preventing an overproduction of stars. The gas would slowly make its way back into the galaxy, where it would initiate a stellar resurgence at a less turbulent time. Researchers have witnessed this occurring in much closer starburst galaxies, but had yet to witness it in the distant universe.
But now, with the help of gravitational lensing and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimete Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers was able to observe forceful molecular winds gusting away from a galaxy over 12 billion light years away. The findings suggest that by blowing their gases away, ancient galaxies had the ability to regulate their star formation and control their galactic evolution.
Published in the journal Science, a team of researchers studied SPT2319-55, a galaxy that was quickly churning out stars just one billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy is extremely far from Earth, but with the help of gravitational lensing, the researchers were able to get an up close and personal view.
More:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2018/09/06/powerful-winds-star-formation-saved-ancient-starburst-galaxy-from-burning-out/#.W5NGfehKjIU
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