07/09/2026
Plenty of gas, too few stars: the turbulence choking star birth in Stephan’s Quintet
In Stephan's Quintet, some gas-rich regions are barely forming stars. A new molecular-gas map made with the Atacama Compact Array shows that the more violently the gas moves, the fewer stars it makes — suggesting galaxy collisions can smother star birth through turbulence, as well as spark it....
https://skycr.org/2026/09/06/stephans-quintet-turbulence-star-formation/
Galaxy collisions usually trigger bursts of star formation, but Stephan's Quintet is different. Using Chile's Atacama Compact Array, astronomers mapped the group's molecular gas and found that the most turbulent regions form the fewest stars, even where gas is abundant — evidence that interaction-...