(ORDO NEWS) — About 15 million light-years from Earth lies the mysterious barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313, which is experiencing extremely active star formation in its outer regions.
Galaxies with a high frequency and rate of star formation usually interact with other galaxies; close passage provides mutual gravitational influence, which compresses gas and dust clouds with great force, giving rise to new stars. The stronger the interaction, the more actively stars are born.
However, NGC 1313 is a “drifting” loner, located at a great distance from any galaxies and galaxy clusters.
Why it happens? There are two assumptions:
- Probably, in NGC 1313, thousands of supernovae (massive stars exploded) broke out in a short period of time, forming a “superbubble” of gas, which, as it expanded, triggered star formation.
- Maybe some invisible “companions” generate shock waves passing through the disk, stimulating star formation.
The image attached to the post was taken with the 8-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile, which captured many colorful gas clouds in the arms of NGC 1313 – proof that this galaxy is a prolific stellar “factory”.
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