CXC: Distant Galaxy Churning Out Stars at Remarkable Rate

[bystander]

SPT 0346-52: Under Construction: Distant Galaxy Churning Out Stars at Remarkable Rate
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2016 Dec 08

[c][imghover=http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2016/spt034 ... 6_comp.jpg]http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2016/spt034 ... abeled.jpg[/imghover]Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Florida/J.Ma et al; Optical: NASA/STScI;
Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA[/c][hr][/hr]

This graphic shows a frame from a computer simulation (main image) and astronomical data (inset) of a distant galaxy undergoing an extraordinary construction boom of star formation, as described in our press release. The galaxy, known as SPT0346-52, is 12.7 billion light years from Earth. This means that astronomers are observing it at a critical stage in the evolution of galaxies, about a billion years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers were intrigued by SPT0346-52 when data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) revealed extremely bright infrared emission from this galaxy. This suggested that the galaxy is undergoing a tremendous explosion of star birth.

However, another possible explanation for the excess infrared emission was the presence of a rapidly growing supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. In this scenario, gas falling towards the black hole would become much hotter and brighter, causing surrounding dust and gas to glow in infrared light.

To distinguish between these two possibilities, researchers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), a radio telescope. Neither X-rays nor radio waves were detected, so astronomers were able to rule out a growing black hole generating most of the bright infrared light. Therefore, they determined that SPT0346-52 is undergoing a tremendous amount of star formation, an important discovery for a galaxy found so early in the Universe. ...

SPT0346-52: Negligible AGN Activity in a Compact, Hyper-starburst Galaxy at z = 5.7 - Jingzhe Ma (et al)

• Astrophysical Journal 832(2):114 (01 Dec 2016) DOI: 10.3847/0004-637X/832/2/114
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1609.08553 > 27 Sep 2016