IU astronomy graduate student Brooke Kimsey-Miller, along with IU alumna Samantha Brunker and IU faculty member John Salzer, have just published a study of the environments around Green Pea galaxies discovered by the H-alpha Dot Survey. These galaxies lie at redshifts between 0.32 < z <0.34, and show very strong emission from [O III], due to forming stars at a high rate, making the Green Pea galaxies appear green in their rest frame. Using spectra from the WIYN 3.5m telescope, Brooke and colleagues obtained spectra of galaxies nearby each Green Pea on the sky to find other galaxies at similar redshift, possibly neighbors of the Green Pea. They found that the 18 Green Peas in their study are located with very few neighboring galaxies and conclude that the high star formation rate is not caused by mergers or interactions with other galaxies. Something else must be going on. Congratulations, Brooke, on the paper!
Brooke’s paper is available from the Astrophysical Journal.
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