25 July 2013

Gas Outflow From Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) Hints At Scarcity Of High Mass Galaxies

This comparison picture of the nearby bright spiral galaxy NGC 253, also known as the Sculptor Galaxy, shows the infrared view from ESO’s VISTA Telescope (left) and a detailed new view of the cool gas outflows at millimetre wavelengths from ALMA (right).

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have observed massive molecular gas outflows ejected by the Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253). This may explain how starburst galaxies behave and why there is a scarcity of very massive galaxies in the Universe.

Starburst galaxies are galaxies that have a very high rate of star formation compared to regular galaxies. They produce stars so fast that their available gas content is depleted in a shorter time span. Starburst galaxies like the Sculptor Galaxy are defined by the rate at which they convert gas into stars, the available quantity of gas available, and the timescale on which SFR (star formation rate) will consume the available gas with the age or rotation period of the galaxy.

With the available data supplied by ALMA, scientist can study and explain why there are so few massive galaxies around. And if the ejected gas theory holds true for most of these galaxies, they also want to find out what ultimately happens to to these gas outflows.

Sculptor Galaxy Gas Outflow Observed





Video: Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) Gas Outflows Observed







European Southern Observatory
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