Sometimes it's tempting to imagine a supernatural hand behind the arrangement of celestial bodies.
As astronomers study interacting galaxies in more detail, they're uncovering athat they call"intergalactic star-forming objects" ISFOs are a broad class of objects that capture the different types that form when galaxies interact.
ISFOs can range in mass from super star clusters to what astronomers call"tidal dwarf galaxies" A 2012 paper based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey estimated that about 6 percent of dwarf galaxies could have tidal origins. Sometimes material from the tidal streams will flow back into the galaxies, triggering more star formation. The leftover material from all this interaction enriches the interstellar medium with dust and metals.
Astronomers now think that about 25 percent of galaxies are currently merging with other galaxies. Even more of them are interacting gravitationally, if not merging, according to the Harvard Center for Astrophysics.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hubble Space Telescope Investigating a Made-to-Measure GalaxyThis image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 7038 winding languidly across space. Located about 220 million light-years from Earth, NGC 7038 lies in the southern constellation Indus. With an incredibly rich and intricately detailed view of a spiral galaxy, t
Read more »
Newborn twin stars blast out jets of rainbow-colored gas in new Hubble imageOne object has parts moving at more than 248 miles (400 kilometers) per second.
Read more »
Fascinating Macro Photos Look at the Diverse Design of Butterly PupaePhotographer Levon Biss has captured a fascinating series of butterfly pupae macro photos that give a look at their diverse designs.
Read more »
Richard Branson must face lawsuit in U.S. over Virgin Galactic space travel problemsA U.S. judge on Monday said British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson must face shareholder claims he concealed problems in Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc's spaceship program, and sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stock at inflated prices.
Read more »
The Perfect Tidal Tail Connects These two Galaxies Seen by HubbleGalaxy mergers are not only scientifically interesting, they're visually stunning, too. Modern telescopes are revealing more detail.
Read more »
Hubble saw Multiple Light Echoes Reflecting off Rings of Dust From a Supernova ExplosionUsing images from Hubble, an international team of astronomers created a video that shows the evolution of a supernova and the resulting light echo
Read more »