Scientists find cosmic 'supermom' in huge galaxy cluster
WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists have found a cosmic supermom. It's a galaxy that gives birth to more stars in a day than ours does in a year.
Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-Ray telescope to spot this distant gigantic galaxy creating about 740 new stars a year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy spawns just about one new star each year.
It's about 5.7 billion light years away in the center of a recently discovered cluster of galaxies that give the brightest X-ray glow astronomers have seen. It is by far the biggest creation of stars that astronomers have seen for this type of galaxy - massive galaxies that are in the center of clusters. But other types of galaxies, such as colliding galaxies, can produce even more stars, astronomers said.
But this is the size, type and age of galaxy that shouldn't be producing stars at such a rapid pace, said the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
"It's very extreme," said Harvard University astronomer Ryan Foley, co-author of the study. "It pushes the boundaries of what we understand."
There's another strange thing about this galaxy. It's fairly mature, maybe 6 billion years old. Usually, this type "are kind of just there and don't do anything new... what we call red and dead," said study lead author Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It seems to have come back to life for some reason."
Because of that back-to-life situation, the team of 85 astronomers has nicknamed the galaxy cluster Phoenix, after the bird that rises from the ashes. The galaxy that is producing the stars at a rate of two per day is in the center of the cluster and is the biggest and most prominent of many galaxies there.
Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-Ray telescope to spot this distant gigantic galaxy creating about 740 new stars a year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy spawns just about one new star each year.
It's about 5.7 billion light years away in the center of a recently discovered cluster of galaxies that give the brightest X-ray glow astronomers have seen. It is by far the biggest creation of stars that astronomers have seen for this type of galaxy - massive galaxies that are in the center of clusters. But other types of galaxies, such as colliding galaxies, can produce even more stars, astronomers said.
But this is the size, type and age of galaxy that shouldn't be producing stars at such a rapid pace, said the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
"It's very extreme," said Harvard University astronomer Ryan Foley, co-author of the study. "It pushes the boundaries of what we understand."
There's another strange thing about this galaxy. It's fairly mature, maybe 6 billion years old. Usually, this type "are kind of just there and don't do anything new... what we call red and dead," said study lead author Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It seems to have come back to life for some reason."
Because of that back-to-life situation, the team of 85 astronomers has nicknamed the galaxy cluster Phoenix, after the bird that rises from the ashes. The galaxy that is producing the stars at a rate of two per day is in the center of the cluster and is the biggest and most prominent of many galaxies there.
That's quite the artist's rendition. I wonder what it really looks like.
Ah, The Universe; mystifying humans for approximately 2.5 million years!
Take that! Octomom.
I don't think Gene Roddenbury could have imagined this image. Truly out of this world.
How cool!
so roughly 6 trillion miles per year(1 light year)Â x 5.6 billion = nothing we can get to in our life times.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Nothing fascinates me more than the Universe and all wild unknowns.
"It pushes the boundaries of what we understand."
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Translation: "We don't know shipt! We want you to think we're smart, but we really don't know much more than the average Joe."
 @Magic 8 Ball They don't want you to think they're smart, they want you to simply think - something you obviously don't do much of.
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The more we know, the less we understand. It's this humbleness that pushes the scientific community to search for answers every day, and it's thanks to science you posses and use the modern marvel that allowed  you to post this inane comment to the world in an instant.
 @Magic 8 Ball That's the whole point of science, you use the best explanation you have and study how things work until you have a better explanation.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
 @ducati  @Magic 8 Ball The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not âEurekaâ but âThatâs funny...â
- Isaac Asimov (probably)
Another perspective: This .... supermom was spinning off new 'suns' at a rate faster than two 'suns' every 24 hrs; and this happened more than one billion years BEFORE the earth was formed. Too bad we have to wait another 5.7 billion years to see what it is up to today.
It's the mother of all galaxies.
Its aliens destroying every galaxy in its path making its way to the milky way galaxy.
Now that's one busy galaxy....Â
My theory would be, that is one big cluster of singularities or maybe that's the back side of a black hole.
 @Cindertang You mean a White hole? ;-)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hole
The Universe was a little crowded so God needed a new subdivision! Only $500 Down gets you a BRAND NEW Blue Giant. (Gamma ray shield not included )
Now thats cool!
Wow....that's all I can say !