Ultra-Dense Galaxies In the Early Universe 19
Science Daily is reporting on the characterization of a population of ancient galaxies, formed less than 3 billion years after the Big Bang, that are as massive as some modern galaxies but are only 1/20 the size. Each of the 9 compact galaxies found is less than 5,000 light-years across, and could fit comfortably inside the Milky Way's central hub (if you moved the supermassive black hole out first). The stars in these galaxies were 1/2 to 1 billion years old when observed and at least one generation of massive stars had already exploded as supernovae.
A science fiction reference (Score:1, Interesting)
Poul Anderson's Tau Zero [amazon.com] makes the suggestion that interstellar contacts between races are more likely in the beginning of the universe than towards the end, simply because all matter will spread so far apart and there won't be enough fuel to move around.
Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun also conjectures a future where galaxies move so far apart that the steersmen of ships cannot locate their destinations by sight and must rely on old charts.
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That's a little silly. Even though the galaxies and stars must have been much closer together again, I don't think that any period where the distance would have made any substantial distance to traversing interstellar or intergalactic distances that the u
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Even now in our galaxy there is a large percentage of it that is inhabitable and not only that but I understand the majority of stars are in orbits around the core that are elliptical enough to pass close or through the core regularly.
Another problem with areas of space that are packed with stars is the odds that other stars will
Probably won't matter much (Score:3, Interesting)
While technically there still is plenty of hydrogen left, the quantity of _free_ hydrogen (available for a new star) is becoming gradually more rare. More and more is locked inside old dead stars. Even a supernova doesn't eject all the matter in the star. A red giant only sheds the outer layer, or to put it other wise, does about as much to recycle the star as shedding does to recycle your dog
So basically if we're talking 100 billion ye
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-l
No Parking (Score:4, Funny)
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Just out of curiosity - how far away are they? (Score:4, Interesting)
If they're over thirteen million light-years distant, they might represent a tantalizing glimpse into the physics of galaxy formation shortly after the Big Bang - the presence of heavier-than-helium elements indicates that at least one round of (superheavy) star formation/destruction has taken place, but they could still be relatively good examples of galactic physics in the (then neonatal) Universe.
/s/million/billion (Score:1)
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Three orders of magnitude, Shirley. (10^^6 vs 10^^9)
Interesting, but no big surprise.... (Score:2)
Citation (Score:2)
Science Daily isn't announcing anything, they just regurgitate press releases.
A team of astrophysicists at Yale have published a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. They're the ones announcing it.
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Imprecision Annoys (Score:2, Interesting)