NASA to support IU astronomer's quest to develop largest-ever star formation database
Monday, November 21, 2011 - 09:30
in Astronomy & Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Samir Salim has a lot of space to fit into a new NASA-funded database; about 11 million galaxies of it would be a ballpark estimate based on the number of galaxies for which distances can be estimated to about 3.5 billion light years, what astronomers still refer to as the relatively "local" universe. But the Indiana University astronomer and research scientist believes the vast archives produced by NASA space telescopes and ground-based observatories hold the right information to create the largest resource ever for the study of how star formation proceeds in galaxies.