Press release
257KB
the full story
119KB
june 15, 2017 - Hubble Telescope
Jackpot! Cosmic Magnifying-Glass Effect Captures Universe's Brightest Galaxies
Galaxies Shine with the Brilliance of up to 100 Trillion Suns
Astronomers were fascinated in the 1980s with the discovery of nearby dustenshrouded galaxies that glowed thousands of times brighter than our Milky Way galaxy in infrared light. Dubbed ultraluminous infrared galaxies, they were starmaking factories, churning out a prodigious amount of stars every year. What wasn't initially clear was what powered these giant infrared light bulbs. Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers confirm the source of the galaxies' light output. Many of them reside within "nests" of galaxies engaged in multiple pileups of three, four or even five galaxies. The dust is produced by the firestorm of star birth, which glows fiercely in infrared light.
Now Hubble is illuminating the bright galaxies' distant dustenshrouded cousins. Boosted by natural magnifying lenses in space, Hubble has captured unique closeup views of the universe's brightest infrared galaxies. The galaxies are ablaze with runaway star formation, pumping out more than 10,000 new stars a year. This unusually rapid star birth is occurring at the peak of the universe's starmaking boom more than 8 billion years ago. The star birth frenzy creates lots of dust, which enshrouds the galaxies, making them too faint to detect in visible light. But they glow fiercely in infrared light, shining with the brilliance of 10 trillion to 100 trillion suns.
More information on the press release
STSCI-H-p1724a-f-3190x2128
3190x2128, 8MB
STSCI-H-p1724b-f-3190x2128
3190x2128, 5MB
STSCI-H-p1724c-f-3190x2128
3190x2128, 5MB
Related news |
||
|
|
|
july 20, 2023
|
november 22, 2022
|
november 17, 2022
|
|
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/ Hubble Space Telescope’s extraordinary sensitivity have discovered a swarm of boulders that were p... |
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical portrait of a distant world’s skie... |
A few days after officially starting #science operations, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope propelled astronomers into a... |
Download all 
You might be interested in |
||
|
|
|
november 09, 2022
|
february 23, 2022
|
october 29, 2021
|
|
Three different moments in a far-off supernova explosion were captured in a single snapshot by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The ... |
A spectacular head-on collision between two galaxies, known as Arp 143, has fueled the unusual triangular-shaped star-formation fr... |
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates Halloween this year with a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which... |
Italian 
Download all 
Share
Share via mail 
Automotive
Sport
Events
Art&Culture
Design
Fashion&Beauty
Food&Hospitality
Technology
Nautica
Racing
Excellence
Corporate
OffBeat
Green
Gift
Pop
Heritage
Entertainment
Health & Wellness