Tsunami of stars and gas produces dazzling eye-shaped feature in galaxy
Friday, November 4, 2016 - 13:01
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a tsunami of stars and gas that is crashing midway through the disk of a spiral galaxy known as IC 2163. This colossal wave of material - which was triggered when IC 2163 recently sideswiped another spiral galaxy dubbed NGC 2207 - produced dazzling arcs of intense star formation that resemble a pair of eyelids.