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Astronomy

Wrestling monsters in deep space

Nature volume 422, pages 670–671 (2003)Cite this article

Observing distant galaxies is always problematic. But when it comes to the biggest star-forming galaxies, far across the Universe, only indirect approaches can give astronomers any handle at all.

One of the big questions in observational cosmology is when and where the stars in galaxies formed. Giant optical telescopes can now pick out galaxies at huge distances across the Universe, but curiously they miss the galaxies in which the greatest number of stars are forming. Much of the star formation in the Universe occurs in bursts, and the processes that fire up these monster galaxies also produce huge amounts of dust that blot out starlight at most wavelengths, including optical ones. The energy that is absorbed by the dust is re-radiated at much longer wavelengths (in the submillimetre range), and observations at these wavelengths have only recently revealed the presence of these hidden systems.

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  1. the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, 96822, Hawaii, USA

    Lennox Cowie

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  1. Lennox Cowie
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Correspondence to Lennox Cowie.

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Cowie, L. Wrestling monsters in deep space. Nature 422, 670–671 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/422670a

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