Spiral galaxy NGC 253. The core reveals violent star formation within a region 1, 000 light-years across. A starburst galaxy has an exceptionally high rate of star birth, first identified by its excess of infrared radiation from warm dust. Credit: Carnegie Institution of Washington.Credit: Jay Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Alan Watson (Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ) and NASA/ESA/HST.
Astronomers have used a radio telescope in outback Western Australia to see the halo of a nearby starburst galaxy in unprecedented detail. A starburst galaxy is a galaxy experiencing a period of intense star formation and this one, NGC 253 or the Sculptor Galaxy, is ~11.5 million light-years from Earth.
“The Sculptor Galaxy is currently forming stars at a rate of 5 solar masses each year, wh...
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