All articles tagged with #star formation
New Gaia data show the initial mass function—the distribution of newborn star masses—varies with local environmental conditions such as gas density and chemical composition. This challenges the idea of a universal IMF used to infer total galaxy masses from bright stars, potentially lowering past estimates and helping explain JWST's observations of massive galaxies forming early in the universe.
A Hubble-based study of Andromeda (M31) using PHAT/PHAST surveys finds its star formation has declined for about 500 million years, with a sharper drop in the last 40 million, especially on the side near the satellite galaxy M32. While not proven, M32 is the leading candidate for helping slow star birth. The work highlights Andromeda as a Milky Way analog and points to future Roman Space Telescope observations that could map the entire disk and add hundreds of millions of stars to the record.
Hubble observations show the Andromeda galaxy’s rate of turning gas into stars has dramatically slowed in the last ~40 million years, with the slowdown most pronounced on the side facing its tiny neighbor M32. While researchers acknowledge they can’t prove M32 caused the decline, it is the leading suspect, possibly due to a past collision. The study mapped Andromeda’s history across two-thirds of its disk, finding current star formation at about 0.2 solar masses per year (roughly one-fifth the Milky Way’s rate). The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will help measure more of Andromeda’s stars to further test the M32-link in the coming years.
Space.com's space photo of the day spotlights a James Webb Space Telescope image of the Carina Nebula, nicknamed the “Treasure Chest,” revealing about 70 young stars (the most massive around 19 solar masses) nestled in a 7,500-light-year cloud. The star cluster is estimated to be about 1.3 million years old, a revision from earlier 100,000-year figures, illustrating how JWST observations refine our understanding of star formation and cluster evolution in massive nebulae.
NASA/ESA/CSA's James Webb Space Telescope highlights a cometary globule in the Carina Nebula nicknamed the Treasure Chest, housing about 70 young stars (the most massive about 19 solar masses) within a ~1.3-million-year-old cluster still embedded in dust; its distinctive shape is shaped by nearby Eta Carinae and Trumpler 16, and Webb's NIRCam reveals the glow of newly formed stars as gas and dust are gradually dispersed.
Using two major Hubble surveys mapping roughly two-thirds of Andromeda’s disk, researchers traced star formation over the past 500 million years and found the galaxy’s rate has declined from about 1 solar mass per year to roughly 0.2 per year, with most recent star formation concentrated in a ring about 32,000 light-years from the center. This winding-down pattern suggests Andromeda is returning to a quiescent state after a past starburst likely tied to a merger with its companion M32; its collision with the Milky Way, about 5 billion years away, remains uncertain. The work, published July 27, 2026 in The Astrophysical Journal, underscores Hubble’s detailed view and points to broader surveys by NASA’s Roman Space Telescope.
Astronomers conclude the Milky Way's so‑called Galactic Center Lobe is not at the center but a nearby, closed gas bubble about 6,520 light‑years away and roughly 115 light‑years across. Using SDSS‑V Local Volume Mapper data and ionized sulfur to see through dust, they show the feature is a foreground structure likely carved by past generations of massive stars and suggest renaming it the 'greatly confused loop' (Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2026).
Using combined 21 cm HI observations from the VLA and FAST, researchers produced the sharpest radio maps of neutral hydrogen around the Orion Nebula, revealing giant expanding shells, cavities, and a four-light-year protrusion inside a second cavity. The structures imply the region was sculpted by multiple generations of massive stars rather than a single bubble, and the HI mass is revised down from ~1000 to ~100 solar masses. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics as part of the NeAtHood project, the findings challenge simple star-formation models and showcase the power of modern radio interferometers, hinting at more hidden structure to come.
JWST confirmed the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0 at about z~14.3 (roughly 290 million years after the Big Bang), unusually large and bright for its age, and ALMA detected oxygen indicating heavy-element enrichment far earlier than models predicted—raising questions about how quickly the first galaxies assembled while not overturning the Big Bang framework.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spent 65 hours capturing a 223-megapixel, near-infrared image of Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy), resolving about 16.5 million stars and revealing a distended disk; when combined with Hubble data, the image helps scientists study M82's unusually rapid star formation (around 10 times faster than the Milky Way) and its evolutionary history.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists observe the distant galaxy merger CRISTAL-02 and find a powerful outflow of gas—a galactic wind—that's removing fuel faster than stars can form, potentially quenching future star formation; the wind is likely driven by merger-triggered starbursts and supernovae (with a possible role for a central black hole), offering insight into early galaxy growth and illustrating a space-weather-like phenomenon in the cosmos.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope revealed about 16.5 million individual stars in edge-on Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy) by peering through dust, mapping its distended disk and a rapid, merger-driven starburst. The Webb data, complemented by Hubble observations, help researchers probe how star formation and outflows have shaped M82 over the past few hundred million years.
Isotopic analysis of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS suggests it formed in a cold environment about 12 billion years ago, making it older than our Solar System and a preserved fragment of an ancient planetary system; unusual isotope ratios (including deuterium) point to a distant, metal-poor birth environment, and SETI scans found no signs of alien technology.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released a detailed image of the Orion A giant molecular cloud, a 290‑light-year filament about 1,300 light-years away that hosts thousands of young stars and their protoplanetary disks. The region has formed roughly 3,000 stellar objects over the past few million years, making it one of the closest and most active stellar nurseries. The JWST image, issued as the telescope’s Picture of the Month, underscores the mission’s transformative impact on studying star and planet formation since its July 2022 launch.
A new James Webb Space Telescope image reveals OMC-2, a dense star-forming region in the Orion Molecular Cloud just south of the Orion Nebula, behind the Sword of Orion. The infrared view peers through gas and dust to show protostars at multiple formation stages, with jets carving glowing ridges through the cloud—a vivid snapshot of stellar birth about 1,280 light-years away.