Hubble Finds Another Mysterious Galaxy To Study Star Formation

Astronomers at NASA has found out another suitable candidate to investigate deeper into the mystery, involved behind the formation of stars and other celestial bodies. With the help of Hubble Space Telescope (HST), they have found out evidences of a dwarf galaxy, which could possibly contain the answers of their problems.


They have named it UGC 4879. It is a dwarf galaxy consisting of many stars spread around it. It is devoid of any spirals or elliptical structure and is far more different than its cosmic cousins. Generally, a galaxy as we think of, consists of several billions of stars, nebulae, celestial bodies, etc. and have a peculiar spiral or elliptical shape. This structure is inherited to them due to the several cosmic events and cosmic interactions that they have experienced since the Big Bang. However, galaxies which have suffered less or minimal cosmic interaction are devoid of such characteristics.

UGC 4879 is one of those galaxies which has suffered minimal cosmic interactions. It is because the galaxy situated in its neighborhood, Leo.A, is 2.3 million light years away. This distance is equivalent to the distance between our Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy. Thus, it provides enough evidences that the galaxy is isolated in nature.

An isolated galaxy, like UGC 4879, is an ideal candidate for scientists for studying star formation. Scientists found out that UGC 4879 has experienced a significant amount of star formation in the first 4 billion years after the Big Bang. Though it mysteriously became quiet for the next 9 billion years, it has become active again 1 million year ago. Scientists surprised by such a characteristic, however, have no idea behind such a complex behavior. They believe, that galaxies like UGC 4879, could possibly help them to gather more experimental data which will lead them to a better understanding of such a peculiar behavior.

Hubble is still out there, finding out more evidences and is looking for galaxies like UGC 4879. They believe that it will soon be possible, with the amount of data and experimental models, to successfully establish the science involved behind the star formation and the birth of numerous complex heavenly bodies.


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