American astronomers from the University of Michigan have put forward a theory explaining the reason for the active formation of stars in dwarf galaxies. These systems are small by cosmic standards but produce the newest stars in the known Universe. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Astrophysical Journal (TAJ).
According to researchers, this distribution is due to the fact that stars in small galaxies very rarely end their evolution as supernovae and often turn into black holes. This allows these regions of space to hold more molecular gas, which can then form new stars.
Scientists believe that supernova explosions create a cosmic “wind” that blows molecular gas into intergalactic space. At the same time, when supernovae occur, heavier elements necessary for the emergence of new massive stars are synthesized. Small galaxies are generally low in metal, allowing the small star formation cycle to continue for about 10 million years; this is the time required to accumulate the resources needed to form a massive star that can then explode.
Examples of such star-forming regions in local dwarf galaxies include the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, and Markarian 71 in the galaxy NGC 2366, about 10 million light-years from our planet.
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