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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Clumpy irregular galaxies have been identified as giant irregulars with a clumpy structure. Investigations in the visible, UV, radio centimetric, X-ray and far infrared demonstrated that the clumps are hyperactive bursts of star formation, each equivalent to a hundred giant HII regions like 30 Doradus or NGC 604. In spite of their strong activity, their linear size is smaller than half a kpc, leading to an “olive jar” model with very peculiar physical conditions. These could be related to the non-detection of the 2.6-mm CO line and to our discovery in a clump of the first known case of a strong, compact, variable radio source which is not a galactic nucleus.