APOD 2.7

Starburst Galaxy IC 10
2012 January 4

Located in the northern part of Cassiopeia and "lurking" behind some of the interstellar dust of the Milky Way, the galaxy, IC 10, produces a impressive amount of red light. It was discovered by Lewis Swift on October 8, 1887; he also found the comet, Swift-Tuttle, that produces the Perseids meteor shower! Now what makes this galaxy significant? The fact that it is a starburst galaxy tells us that the galaxy is undergoing a period of intense star forming activity. A starburst can yield ten to a hundred times the amount of stars a normal galaxy would produce and do so in 10 million years (which is like a month in the life of a galaxy)! Starbursts result from colliding galaxies that condense gases to form new stars. These new stars quickly expend their energy and go supernova, thereby creating more instability when they generate shock waves. The resulting chain reaction leads to an explosion of new stars in galaxies like IC 10, that blew my mind!