A Tiny Galaxy is Born

phlack writes "New images from the Hubble Telescope show a new galaxy (only 68 million light years away) is in the stages of being formed, despite its neighbors (such as us) having already existed for billions of years. This can give astronomers new insight into the sgates of galaxy formation. Information can be found at the hubble telescope site, as well as ScienceDaily."

Comments

Light....

[Cyno01]

(only 68 million light years away) is in the stages of being formed

Uh, this galaxy was new 68 million years ago, its probably formed by now, /.: old news, stuff that mattered.

Re:Light....

[Simon Field]

Wouldn't that be "matter getting stuffed"?

Actually, the point of the story is that this is "new". Most of the galaxies we see are billions of years old. To see one forming only 68 million years ago is unusual.

Of course, the galaxy was discovered 20 years ago, so even that "news" is "olds".

My favorite quote from the article is this one: "the young system sits in a region of comparatively empty space known as a void".
Well, yes...

Stages of galaxy formation.

[taphu]

This can give astronomers new insight into the sgates of galaxy formation.

Right, all we have to do is monitor it for a few hundred million years and we'll have the whole story!! :)