the improbably young galaxy
This image - made up of exposures in visible and infrared light taken
with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Elderly galaxies tend to be more massive through mergers and
collisions with other galaxies. They are enriched with heavy elements
forged in stellar furnaces over multiple generations of stars, and
contain stars as old as the galaxy itself.
Young galaxies are mostly composed of the lighter primordial elements
hydrogen, helium, and lithium, which were created in the Big Bang.
Based on its structure, appearance, and chemical composition the galaxy - named DDO 68 - seems relatively youthful.
Young galaxies are commonly only found in the very distant universe. It
takes a long time for the light from these galaxies to reach us so we
see them as they were billions of years ago, when they were still very
young.
However, DDO 68 is only 39 million light years away and usually all the
galaxies near us are old - like our own 12 billion year old Milky Way
galaxy.
Is DDO 68 a young galaxy?
with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Elderly galaxies tend to be more massive through mergers and
collisions with other galaxies. They are enriched with heavy elements
forged in stellar furnaces over multiple generations of stars, and
contain stars as old as the galaxy itself.
Young galaxies are mostly composed of the lighter primordial elements
hydrogen, helium, and lithium, which were created in the Big Bang.
Based on its structure, appearance, and chemical composition the galaxy - named DDO 68 - seems relatively youthful.
Young galaxies are commonly only found in the very distant universe. It
takes a long time for the light from these galaxies to reach us so we
see them as they were billions of years ago, when they were still very
young.
However, DDO 68 is only 39 million light years away and usually all the
galaxies near us are old - like our own 12 billion year old Milky Way
galaxy.
Is DDO 68 a young galaxy?