Messier 82
Starburst galaxies are prolific star factories, churning out tens to
hundreds of stars each year. By contrast, the Milky Way crafts just a
handful of stars annually. Recently, a team led by Alberto Bolatto
(University of Maryland) turned JWST toward the cigar-shaped galaxy
Messier 82, which is a starburst galaxy 12 million light-years away.
Messier 82’s star formation rate has cooled from an impressive peak of
160 solar masses of stars per year 8–15 million years ago to 12 solar
masses per year today. The team sought to study the powerful winds that
whisk away star-forming gas from the galaxy’s center. In the image
above, which shows the central few thousand light-years of the galaxy,
red represents 3.3-micron (1 micron = 10-6 meter) emission
that largely comes from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: sooty
molecules that contain multiple rings of carbon atoms bonded together.
(Green and blue represent 2.5-micron and 1.6-micron emission,
respectively; the compact green areas are mostly supernova remnants.)
These new observations show in great detail the narrow, intertwined
filaments and bubbles highlighted by the 3.3-micron emission. The
filaments may have formed when dense, dusty clumps of gas were shredded
by the outflowing galactic wind. To dive into the science behind this
image, be sure to check out the full research article linked below.
By Kerry Hensley
Citation
“JWST Observations of Starbursts: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
Emission at the Base of the M82 Galactic Wind,” Alberto D. Bolatto et al
2024 ApJ 967 63. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad33c8
