Astronomers Peer into Ginormous Cosmic Clouds, See Stars Forming

Astronomers Peer into Ginormous Cosmic Clouds, See Stars Forming
By Laura Sinpetru   16 Feb 2015, 12:38 GMT

The astronomers behind this project managed to map the distribution and motion of the molecules inside these clouds


In a new report, researchers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory detail how, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, they managed to study star-forming cosmic clouds in unprecedented detail.

In a new report, researchers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory detail how, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, they managed to study star-forming cosmic clouds in unprecedented detail.
Even cooler, the astronomers say that the clouds that they studied are part and parcel of a so-called starburst galaxy, which they describe as a cosmic system able to birth stars thousands of times faster than regular galaxies like, say, the Milky Way do.

A better understanding of how stars form

As explained by scientist Adam Leroy with the Ohio State University in Columbus, US, stars are created from insanely dense clouds of dust and gas. Although all galaxies pack such clouds, just few of them birth stars at a freakishly rapid pace.

Apparently, these so-called starburst galaxies can cough out brand new stars at a rate about 1,000 times greater than that documented in the case of run-of-the-mill galaxies such as the Milky Way. The thing is that, for the time being at least, scientists don't quite know why this is the case.

Hoping to solve this puzzle, scientists used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to study a disk-shaped galaxy known as the Sculptor, or NGC 253. This system is located at a distance of about 11.5 million light-years from our planet and is now undergoing intense star-formation processes.

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