ICRAR: Scientists Discover More about the Ingredients for Star Formation
Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:33 pm
Scientists Discover More about the Ingredients for Star Formation
International Center for Radio Astronomy Research | 2017 Oct 10
ALMA Shows that Gas Reservoirs of Star-Forming Disks over the
Past 3 Billion Years Are Not Predominantly Molecular - Luca Cortese, Barbara Catinella, Steven Janowiecki
International Center for Radio Astronomy Research | 2017 Oct 10
[img3="Comparison between the stellar (top) and molecular hydrogen (bottom) distribution in very gas-rich galaxies three billion years younger than the Milky Way. Optical data is from the Sloan Digital Survey whereas molecular hydrogen maps have been obtained using the Atacama Large Millimetre Array."]https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com ... images.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]Astronomers have shed fresh light on the importance of hydrogen atoms in the birth of new stars.
Only hydrogen molecules are thought to directly fuel star formation but research published today shows there are more hydrogen atoms than molecules even in young galaxies that are making a lot of stars. ...
In the local Universe close to us about 70 per cent of the hydrogen gas is found in individual atoms, while the rest is in molecules.
Astronomers had expected that as they looked back in time, younger galaxies would contain more and more molecular hydrogen until it dominated the gas in the galaxy. Instead, they found that atomic hydrogen makes up the majority of gas in younger galaxies too. ...
ALMA Shows that Gas Reservoirs of Star-Forming Disks over the
Past 3 Billion Years Are Not Predominantly Molecular - Luca Cortese, Barbara Catinella, Steven Janowiecki
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 848(1):L7 (2017 Oct 10) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8cc3
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1709.07933 > 22 Sep 2017 (v1), 02 Oct 2017 (v2)