Ancient cosmic collisions may have birthed the universe's most monstrous galaxies

[Admin]

Astronomers have discovered that large flows of cold gas created by collisions between galaxies in the early universe may have forged some of the most monstrous star systems.

Ancient cosmic collisions may have birthed the universe's most monstrous galaxies : Read more

 

[Torbjorn Larsson]

It is interesting to juxtapose these finds with the recent "Firefly Sparkle" galaxy of Milky Way spiral galaxy progenitor formation:

For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected and “weighed” a galaxy that not only existed around 600 million years after the big bang, but is also similar to what our Milky Way galaxy’s mass might have been at the same stage of development. Other galaxies Webb has detected at this time period are significantly more massive. Nicknamed the Firefly Sparkle, this galaxy is gleaming with star clusters — 10 in all — each of which researchers examined in great detail.

Firefly Sparkle is only 6,500 light-years away from its first companion, and its second companion is separated by 42,000 light-years. For context, the fully formed Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across — all three would fit inside it. Not only are its companions very close, the researchers also think that they are orbiting one another.
Each time one galaxy passes another, gas condenses and cools, allowing new stars to form in clumps, adding to the galaxies’ masses. “It has long been predicted that galaxies in the early universe form through successive interactions and mergers with other tinier galaxies,” said Yoshihisa Asada, a co-author and doctoral student at Kyoto University in Japan. “We might be witnessing this process in action.”

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/w...ing-galaxy-as-lightweight-as-young-milky-way/