What do the knots tell us about early galaxy formation?
“Based on this image we can begin to make some conclusions about the early growth of galaxies”, says Illingworth. “The knots show that starbirth happens in very tiny regions compared with the size of the final galaxy”. This helps clarify the astronomer’s view of the formation of galaxies as occurring within a cauldron of hot gas, with knots of intense star formation, strong winds, and “mergers” — collisions of the dense star-forming knots.
