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Declining star formation in Milky Way
Why is it in News?
- New research sheds light on declining star formation in Milky Way.
Details:
- About research:
(1) Research was carried out by the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA-TIFR) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru.
(2) It used the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to measure the atomic hydrogen content of galaxies seen .
(3) These galaxies were eight billion years ago when the universe was young.
- Findings:
(1) Galaxies in the universe are made up mostly of gas and stars, with gas being converted into stars during the life of a galaxy.
(2) Galaxies formed stars at a higher rate when the universe was young than they do today.
(3) The star formation activity in galaxies peaked about 8-10 billion years ago and has been declining steadily till today.
(4) The cause of this decline was unknown as there had been no information regarding the amount of atomic hydrogen gas in galaxies in these early times.
(5) Hydrogen is the primary fuel for star formation.