News Astronomy

The Milky Way may be spawning many more stars than astronomers had thought

Gamma rays reveal the galaxy’s star-making power

the Rosette Nebula, shown as a dense cloud of red, yellow, orange and blue, with bright white spots

The Milky Way spawns stars in places such as the Rosette Nebula, seen here in a far-infrared image from the Herschel Space Telescope, and does so with much more vigor than astronomers had thought, according to a new study.

HOBYS Key Programme Consortia/PACS & SPIRE Consortium/ESA

By Ken Croswell

The Milky Way is churning out far more stars than previously thought, according to a new estimate of its star formation rate.