ALMA and VLT Find Too Many Massive Stars in Starburst Galaxies, Near and Far

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered that both, starburst galaxies in the early Universe, and a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy, contain a much higher proportion of massive stars than is found in more peaceful galaxies. These findings challenge current ideas about how galaxies evolved, changing our understanding of cosmic star-formation history and the build-up of chemical elements.

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The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) -the largest astronomical project in existence- is a single telescope of revolutionary design, composed of 66 high precision antennas located in northern Chile. ALMA is an international partnership of ESO (Europe), NSF (U.S) and NINS (Japan) together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile We love the Cosmos!