FNX Magokiler Posted January 9, 2024 Posted January 9, 2024 The international team of researchers discovered 23 concentrations or clumps of very small and dense molecular clouds, which are the sites where stars form. This is in an area very far from the M83 galaxy, a place where stars are no longer seen and where they were not expected to be found. “Astronomers are eager to know what the process is to form stars. It is still a question to understand: how, where and when new stars are born in the universe. This discovery allows us to advance in this process since without stars there is no light and therefore there is no evolution in the universe,” indicates Mónica Rubio, who is also the 2021 National Prize for Exact Sciences. To make this discovery, the ALMA (Atacama Large Milimetrical Array) millimeter radio telescope was used, which is located in northern Chile in the Atacama Desert, which pointed to the edge of the galaxy M83, where there is gas formed by hydrogen atoms, the one that is not capable of forming stars. But now the emission of the carbon monoxide molecule was detected. “These emissions are different from what we have usually found in molecular clouds. Since a large amount, a large volume of their envelope is invisible and it turns out that now we were able to detect the heart of these small clouds. In general, to form stars we need the areas to be dense, dark and cold," says Rubio, adding that "my contribution to this work was to provide my experience on the properties of these clouds located in small galaxies with few ingredients to form molecules. , low-metallicity dwarf galaxies.” The search continues Now the team intends to continue with a more in-depth investigation of these new regions and determine their properties, using the ALMA radio observatory. This research was the continuation of work begun by Celia Verdugo, a student of Dr. Rubio who later completed her doctorate in France, under the guidance of Professor François Combe. The research was expanded by Professor Jim Coda of Stony Brooks University in New York, who led the research; along with Amanda M. Lee from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, David Thilker from Johns Hopkins University, Françoise Combes from the Observatoire de Paris, Samuel Boissier from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, as well as Rubio and other researchers. https://www.elmostrador.cl/cultura/ciencia-cultura/2024/01/09/astronomos-hallan-23-grumos-de-nubes-moleculares-sitio-donde-se-forman-las-estrellas/
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