A simple and useful way of knowing if a galaxy is old or if on the contrary it is full of new star formations is in its color. The rule is simple: the most reddish galaxies are usually older; The most bluish, young.
Young and red. Now a researcher at the University of Missouri has raised a third waythe possible existence of reddish but still alive colored galaxies, that is, in the process of forming new stars. Among other implications, this could mean that our universe forms even more stars than we thought.
Red or blue. Galaxies are usually categorized according to the color of their stars. Blue stars usually shine with more force for less time, so when the blue tones predominate we know that new stars are still forming. The stars with warmer tones resist more so when a galaxy dies, that is, when it stops creating new stars, these more reddish stars are what remains.
However, there is something that escapes us in this hypothesis. According to Charles Steinhardt, author of the new study, this model raises certain inconsistencies, for example in the ratios between stellar masses and masses of black holes, and enters the initial mass functions of red and blue galaxies.
What if they are not dead? In An article Posted in the magazine The Astrophysical JournalSteinhardt raises the existence of a different category, red and young galaxies. The key would be in the fact that in these galaxies, the stars formed would be of less dough and that therefore, also the youngest would shine with reddish tones.
“The red -star formants mainly produce little dough stars, which would make them look red despite the permanent births of stars,” Explain in a press release Steinhardt.
Birth and fusion. One of the keys to this hypothesis is in the post-stallid galaxies (Post-Starburst). The galaxies can go from being young stars producing to lifeless galaxies in two ways. The first, through a slow and natural evolution; the second, after a burst of stars (Starburst).
When two galaxies collide, the subject of both meets, accelerating the accumulation process that gives rise to new stars. This makes the galaxy go through a stage of rapid stars formation, a stage that leaves the galaxy without fuel.
In his hypothesis, Steinhardt raises the possibility, that some of these galaxies have been forming red and small stars from the beginning, and not being the result of a burst. This possibility would imply, Explainhave to reclassify some of the galaxies we know.
More stars. The new hypothesis postulates that red galaxies continue to create new stars which in turn implies that our universe produces even more stars than those we believed. “The existence of these galaxies can mean that the universe has formed a significantly greater number of stars than before,” Steinhardt defends.
The galaxies are complex formations and we may still notice important details about them. Details such as the details of their life cycles, adds the researcher.
In Xataka | The James Webb has found a galaxy when the universe was 330 million years old. Hide an entire enigma
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings