Triangulum Galaxy and star formation<\/strong><\/h2>The Triangulum Galaxy is bursting with star formation, 10 times greater even than the Andromeda Galaxy.<\/p>
It’s also an incredibly neat and pristine example of a spiral galaxy with well-defined arms that, say astronomers, indicate it’s not currently being gravitationally perturbed by interactions with neighbouring galaxies.<\/p>
M33’s propensity for star formation is due to the fact it contains so much cosmic gas and dust: the key ingredients for forming new stars.<\/p>
It contains so-called H-II regions, which are clouds of ionised hydrogen that fuel star formation.<\/p>
Astronomers say there’s evidence that high-mass stars are forming in collisions between massive molecular clouds in the Triangulum Galaxy.<\/p>![\"Inset](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/hubble-centre-triangulum-galaxy-inset-scaled.jpg\")
Inset image shows Hubble’s view of the centre of the Triangulum Galaxy. Click image to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Boyer (STScI), J. Dalcanton (University of Washington), and ESO; Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA\/Catholic University of America)<\/figcaption><\/figure>This Hubble Space Telescope image showing the centre of the Triangulum Galaxy reveals those ionised hydrogen clouds in red.<\/p>
Cutting through the clouds are dark lanes of cosmic dust.<\/p>
And if you think this looks rather grainy for a Hubble image, that ‘graininess’ is actually countless stars.<\/p>
The Hubble Space Telescope is so powerful it can resolve individual stars in the Triangulum Galaxy, even though the galaxy is 2.73 million lightyears<\/a> from Earth.<\/p>![\"Hubble](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/hubble-triangulum-galaxy.jpg\")
Hubble Space Telescope image of the Triangulum Galaxy, released in 2019. Click image to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Durbin, J. Dalcanton, and B. F. Williams (University of Washington)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Triangulum’s ultimate fate<\/strong><\/h2>The Triangulum is something of a rarity, in that it’s a ‘pure disk galaxy’, which means it has no supermassive black hole at its centre and has no central, concentrated bulge of stars.<\/p>
However, the Triangulum Galaxy’s ultimate fate might be the same as our own.<\/p>
The Milky Way is destined to collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in the future, and this event is known as the Andromeda-Milky Way collision<\/a>.<\/p>Astronomers think that the Triangulum Galaxy may be on a collision course with Andromeda and the Milky Way, meaning its pristine shape won’t last forever.<\/p>
This Hubble Space Telescope image showing the centre of the Triangulum Galaxy reveals those ionised hydrogen clouds in red.<\/p>
Cutting through the clouds are dark lanes of cosmic dust.<\/p>
And if you think this looks rather grainy for a Hubble image, that ‘graininess’ is actually countless stars.<\/p>
The Hubble Space Telescope is so powerful it can resolve individual stars in the Triangulum Galaxy, even though the galaxy is 2.73 million lightyears<\/a> from Earth.<\/p> The Triangulum is something of a rarity, in that it’s a ‘pure disk galaxy’, which means it has no supermassive black hole at its centre and has no central, concentrated bulge of stars.<\/p> However, the Triangulum Galaxy’s ultimate fate might be the same as our own.<\/p> The Milky Way is destined to collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in the future, and this event is known as the Andromeda-Milky Way collision<\/a>.<\/p> Astronomers think that the Triangulum Galaxy may be on a collision course with Andromeda and the Milky Way, meaning its pristine shape won’t last forever.<\/p>Triangulum’s ultimate fate<\/strong><\/h2>