Massive star formation within the Leo 'primordial' ring.

Few intergalactic, plausibly primordial clouds of neutral atomic hydrogen (H(i)) have been found in the local Universe, suggesting that such structures have either dispersed, become ionized or produced a stellar population on gigayear timescales. The Leo ring, a massive (M(H(i)) approximately 1.8 x 10(9)M[symbol: see text], M[symbol: see text] denoting the solar mass), 200-kpc-wide structure orbiting the galaxies M105 and NGC 3384 with a 4-Gyr period, is a candidate primordial cloud. Despite repeated atttempts, it has previously been seen only from H i emission, suggesting the absence of a stellar population. Here we report the detection of ultraviolet light from gaseous substructures of the Leo ring, which we attribute to recent massive star formation. The ultraviolet colour of the detected complexes is blue, implying the onset of a burst of star formation or continuous star formation of moderate (approximately 10(8)-yr) duration. Measured ultraviolet-visible photometry favours models with low metallicity (Z approximately Z[symbol: see text]/50-Z[symbol: see text]/5, Z[symbol: see text] denoting the solar metallicity), that is, a low proportion of elements heavier than helium, although spectroscopic confirmation is needed. We speculate that the complexes are dwarf galaxies observed during their formation, but distinguished by their lack of a dark matter component. In this regard, they resemble tidal dwarf galaxies, although without the enrichment preceding tidal stripping. If structures like the Leo ring were common in the early Universe, they may have produced a large, yet undetected, population of faint, metal-poor, halo-lacking dwarf galaxies.

A turbulent wake as a tracer of 30,000 years of Mira's mass loss history.

Mira is one of the first variable stars ever discovered and it is the prototype (and also the nearest example) of a class of low-to-intermediate-mass stars in the late stages of stellar evolution. These stars are relatively common and they return a large fraction of their original mass to the interstellar medium (ISM) (ref. 2) through a processed, dusty, molecular wind. Thus stars in Mira's stage of evolution have a direct impact on subsequent star and planet formation in their host galaxy. Previously, the only direct observation of the interaction between Mira-type stellar winds and the ISM was in the infrared. Here we report the discovery of an ultraviolet-emitting bow shock and turbulent wake extending over 2 degrees on the sky, arising from Mira's large space velocity and the interaction between its wind and the ISM. The wake is visible only in the far ultraviolet and is consistent with an unusual emission mechanism whereby molecular hydrogen is excited by turbulent mixing of cool molecular gas and shock-heated gas. This wind wake is a tracer of the past 30,000 years of Mira's mass-loss history and provides an excellent laboratory for studying turbulent stellar wind-ISM interactions.