Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies were fervently producing new stars. The observations focused on 18 galaxies located 12.5 billion light-years away.
Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) instruments Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and, the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA), and the W. M. Keck Observatory have uncovered the hidden lives of some of the most massive galaxies in the early Universe, revealing that while some shut down star formation quickly, others continue forming stars behind thick veils of cosmic dust.
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) were surprised to discover the very earliest phases of giant planet formation between the dense layers of gas and dust in the “Gomez’s Hamburger” system.
When two massive, gas‑rich galaxies merge, gravity drives vast amounts of cold molecular gas toward the centers of both systems, where supermassive black holes (SMBHs) reside. These brief, turbulent phases can light up one or both black holes as active galactic nuclei (AGN), making them some of the most energetic objects in the universe. Yet, puzzlingly, not all merging galaxies host two actively feeding black holes; some show only one, while others seem to have no appetite.