Dwarf galaxies are tiny but incredibly potent, showing us on a cosmic scale that size doesn’t matter—it’s how you use it that counts.
Astronomers have previously performed astronomical surveys to ascertain the rate of star formation in mid- and high-mass galaxies, but not until recently did they study the smallest ones.
And so they peered eight billion years into the past to determine a relationship between galactic mass and star-forming prowess.After Hubble had glimpsed the miniscule galaxies in infrared, astronomers were surprised to find that the dwarfs produced stars at a much faster rate than their larger, more massive brethren.
That’s quite shocking, since you’d expect more gas to equal more stars. However, the tiniest galaxies proved the most productive with an ability to double up their cache of stars in only 150 million years. In a normal-sized galaxy, such growth would require between one and three billion years of hard gravitational work.
Sadly, astronomers don’t know why the dwarfs are so prolific, but they hope to pry their secrets open as they discover similar specimens at different points in their evolution.
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