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Using the CSIRO Mopra radio telescope (Coonabarabran, New South Wales), the astronomy team discovered that younger galaxies have less molecular hydrogen gas than galaxies that formed long ago.
Dr. Braun states, "But most of the original gas '” about 70% '” remains locked up, having been turned into things such as white dwarfs, neutron stars and planets.'
And, "So the molecular gas is used up over time. We find that the decline in the molecular gas is similar to the pattern of decline in star formation, although during the time interval that we have studied, it is declining even more rapidly."
For more on this story, please read the CSIRO media release from August 22, 2011 called 'Galaxies are running out of gas'.
Dr. Braun concludes in the article, "The drop-off in both gas availability and star formation seems to have started around the time that Dark Energy took control of the Universe.'
