STARS are being born in regions of galaxies that, until now, were considered too sparse to support their formation. The discovery, which comes from early observations by an ultraviolet space telescope, is set to change astronomers’ ideas about the way stars form and how galaxies evolve.
Stars are born when hydrogen clouds condense under their own gravity. This heats the hydrogen, causing it to glow brightly with ultraviolet light. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), a NASA telescope that was launched in April 2003, is designed to observe this process in distant galaxies. Among its first observations are new stars emerging…
