Researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal patterns of star formation in an isolated dwarf galaxy.
Sometimes little galaxies hold big clues to star formation over cosmic time. An STScI-led team of astronomers has used the James Webb Space Telescope to study Leo P, a dwarf galaxy located about 5.3 million light years from Earth that was discovered in 2013. Leo P is relatively isolated from other, larger galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda, which means it has been unaffected by their influence.
The team found that Leo P formed stars early on but then stopped making them shortly after a period known as the Epoch of Reionization, which brought an end to the universe’s “dark ages.” After a few billion years, the galaxy reignited and started forming new stars again. This is unusual because most dwarf galaxies whose star formation shut down never restarted.
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