Astronomers have discovered 16.5 million stars in the Messier 82 galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected 16.5 million individual stars in the center of the galaxy Messier 82 (M82), located 12 million light-years from Earth. This was reported on June 25 by Universe Today magazine.

Thanks to infrared sensors, JWST was able to peer through dense layers of cosmic dust that had hidden the M82's internal structure from other spacecraft for decades. It turned out that new stars are born in this galaxy 10 times faster than in the Milky Way.

Scientists have established that the abnormally high rate of star formation is caused by the collision of M82 with a neighboring galaxy in the past. This is indicated by the asymmetry of the galaxy's disk, which looks brighter and wider on one side. According to the publication, this process will not last forever: by astronomical standards, the "stellar explosion" stage will last for several hundred million more years until the gas reserves are exhausted.

The new images also captured gigantic emissions of matter, shaped like an hourglass. Ionized gas and particles of cosmic soot are ejected beyond the galactic disk due to the tremendous energy released during the birth of young stars.

To get a complete picture, the researchers compared data from the JWST infrared telescope with images from the Hubble telescope operating in the visible spectrum. The researchers plan to spend several years studying the obtained data array in order to reconstruct the history of the development of M82 and the migration of star formation zones inside it.

On June 19, Science Daily magazine reported the discovery of a powerful neutrino factory of newborn stars in the universe. According to scientists, the source of the burst is located in the distant galaxy JCMT0402−0424. The researchers emphasize that the particles are born as a result of extremely active formation of new stars.