Galaxy growth spurts explained: Young galaxies can grow by sucking in cool gas
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - 13:31
in Astronomy & Space
New observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, provided direct evidence that young galaxies can grow by sucking in the cool gas around them and using it as fuel for the formation of many new stars. In the first few billion years after the Big Bang the mass of a typical galaxy increased dramatically and understanding why this happened is one of the hottest problems in modern astrophysics.