Conscientious Galaxy Uses All Its Fuel To Make New Stars, Leaving No Waste Behind
Ultra-High-Efficiency Galaxy In a galaxy called SDSSJ1506+54, nearly all of the gas has been driven to the central core of the galaxy and ignited into stars. This is a composite of images from the Hubble Space Telescope and Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. NASAThis newly spotted galaxy is the least profligate galaxy ever seen. A newly found faraway galaxy called SDSSJ1506+54 is the most efficient star maker ever seen, using up almost all of the gas available to it. Other galaxies are more profligate with their gas, only using some of it and leaving the rest just lying there. Stars form when collapsing gas clouds condense so tightly that they ignite nuclear fusion. In the Milky Way, the gas is relatively diffuse, with stars clustered in small pockets throughout the loose tendrils of its spiral arms. But in SDSSJ1506+54, everything is very compact, with most of the galaxy's light streaming from a region...