International space scientists have discovered that the monitoring of a stream of gas clouds moving toward a large galaxy may provide proof of the recycling of gas stuff. The team’s observation and analysis of a gas cloud encircling a dense galaxy cluster 11 billion light years away, as well as their findings, are detailed in their paper, which was published in the journal Science.
Space scientists have long expected that enriched gases in galaxies’ surroundings could be drawn in and used as the raw material for future star formation. Additionally, they have proposed that these gases may have formed as a result of supernova explosions that left their galaxy.
As a result, the gases are recycled as they are drawn back into a galaxy. The study team thinks it may have discovered proof of such recycling in this latest endeavour.
The researchers analyzed data from the Subaru and Keck II telescopes which were focused on a huge galaxy at redshift 2.3, which is surrounded by a nebula (cloud of gas and dust), called MAMMOTH-1. When the nebula was first discovered in 2017, it was considered to be mysterious.
A recent analysis, however, indicates that the galaxy is bringing material from the nebula closer by using three different gas streams. Two of the streams were found to point to a single quasar, which is thought to reside in the galaxy.
Further investigation of the streams revealed that they also contain a significant amount of carbon, which earlier studies have indicated is produced inside of stars, in addition to hydrogen and helium. As a result, the carbon in the gas stream must have once been present in a star but is no longer there, suggesting that it was expelled as a result of a supernova.
The presence of carbon in the gas means that it will soon be used to help create new stars because it appears to be a stream entering the galaxy.
Kinematic modeling of the galaxy and nebula by the team revealed the gas streams spiraling into the galaxy, indicating that they are likely a part of a massive recycling process in which stars explode and the leftover material from the explosions is used to create new stars.
