An “impossible” galaxy exists 12 million light years away. Over the past 600 million years, new stars have been born in its core – but there is no visible source of fuel that supports this process.

The galaxy, called NGC 6789, was discovered back in 1883, but only in recent decades has it become clear that it is still forming stars. NGC 6789 is located in the direction of the constellation Draco in the so-calledLocal void (emptiness). It is one of the few star clusters floating in this void, and it is incredibly isolated compared to most other galaxies we know of.

This is what makes the star formation process in it so mysterious. To form new stars, galaxies need gas, and there is almost none in the Local Void. NGC 6789 is at least a billion years old and should have used up its original gas supply by now.

However, over the past 600 million years, it has formed stars with a total mass of about 100 million solar masses – which is about 4% of its total stellar mass.

Using the Teide Observatory’s twin 2-meter TTT telescope in Tenerife, Spanish astrophysicists have made new observations of the galaxy to capture detailed images of it than ever before. They hoped to find traces of an event that could explain the influx of matter – such as a merger with another galaxy or a previously undetected flow of gas – that would distort the shape of NGC 6789.

Alas, as follows from the results of the analysis published in Research Notes of the AASan in-depth study did not bring any clarity. Perhaps the galaxy somehow retains remnants of gas from the moment of its formation, or somewhere nearby there is an extremely rarefied gas cloud that influenced its shape. But for now this mystery remains unsolved.