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Starburst galaxy
Galaxy undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A starburst galaxy is one undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, as compared to the long-term average rate of star formation in the galaxy, or the star formation rate observed in most other galaxies.
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For example, the star formation rate of the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 3 Mā/yr, while starburst galaxies can experience star formation rates of 100 Mā/yr or more.[1] In a starburst galaxy, the rate of star formation is so large that the galaxy consumes all of its gas reservoir, from which the stars are forming, on a timescale much shorter than the age of the galaxy. As such, the starburst nature of a galaxy is a phase, and one that typically occupies a brief period of a galaxy's evolution. The majority of starburst galaxies are in the midst of a merger or close encounter with another galaxy. Starburst galaxies include M82, NGC 4038/NGC 4039 (the Antennae Galaxies), and IC 10.