Tech

Fire-works filled tadpole spotted in space by Hubble

Published

8 years ago

June 29, 2016

A “tadpole galaxy” has wiggled into view of the Hubble space telescope. Released today, these images show an outstretched galaxy that’s rare for our neighbourhood of the universe. Its name is LEDA 36252, also known as Kiso 5639.

Eighty-two million light-years away, the dwarf galaxy is small but busy. A mass equivalent of 10,000 Sun erupts at the tadpole’s head—more horror movie inspiration than cute baby frog—in a show resemblance of our own galaxy’s early days. NASA describes the image as more of an Independence Day fireworks show.

Read also: Google developing physical code for teenagers

The discovery will help scientists study “the accretion of cosmic gas, starburst activity, and the formation of globular star clusters,” according to a press release. It’s already surprising researchers, who didn’t expect so much new star activity, as these types of formations typically include mostly old stars. They think “intergalactic gas” raining down on Kiso 5639 less than 1 million years ago triggered the new star formations.

The images come a week after news that NASA would extend Hubble operations through 2021. The 26-year-old telescope has earned its keep, with more than 1.2 million observations and 12,800 scientific papers. Not bad for a millennial.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now