Recycling galaxies caught in the act

When astronomers add up all the gas and dust contained in ordinary galaxies (like our own Milky Way), they find a discrepancy: there is not nearly enough matter for stars to form at the observed rates for long. As a (partial) solution, a matter cycle on gigantic scales has been proposed. In our local galactic neighborhood, traces of this mechanism had already been found. Now, a new study has found the first direct evidence of such gas flowing back into distant galaxies that are actively forming new stars, validating a key part of "galactic recycling".

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