Formation of dwarf galaxy observed using India's AstroSat

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

The formation of a dwarf galaxy is explained by an international team of researchers. In a paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they found evidence of maturing in the galaxies.

There are dwarfs in the universe. Such galaxies are usually made up of a few billion stars, as compared to mature galaxies such as the Milky Way, which have hundreds of billions of stars. Some dwarf galaxies may evolve to become more mature, but how that might happen has not been fully understood. The AstroSat space-based telescope was focused on several blue compact dwarf galaxies, which are estimated to be 1.5 to 3.9 billion light-years away from Earth. The team used the AstroSat to look for evidence of star formation.

Efforts to observe star formation in dwarf galaxies have been hampered by their low luminosities and low mass. AstroSat has been able to overcome these problems because of its ability to capture multiple wavelengths of light at the same time, as well as because it has a high resolving power of its telescope.

In analyzing 17 hours of data from AstroSat, the researchers found evidence of material moving from the outer edges to the center. The creation of stars and other bodies, such as planets and moons, could be a result of such accretions, according to the researchers. The material is pulled inward by the strength of gas and stellar complexes.

According to the researchers, their observations are just the first step in understanding how dwarf galaxies evolve to become mature galaxies with many more stars in them.

More information: Anshuman Borgohain et al, Extended far-ultraviolet emission in distant dwarf galaxies, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04905-9 Journal information: Nature

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