| Term: | Ultraluminous infrared galaxies |
| Definition: |
A galaxy that emits more than 90% of its energy in the infrared (8-1000 µm) and whose infrared luminosity exceeds 10^12 solar luminosities. Quasars can also have such high or even higher bolometric luminosities. However LIRGs and ULIRGs emit the bulk of their energy in the infrared. Most of ULIRGs are found in merging and interacting galaxy systems. It is thought that their luminosity results from galactic collisions, which increase the rate of star formation. |