The largest, ugliest duckling in the universe.
So much of our universe is stunningly beautiful. Let’s spend a little time on something that isn’t, and follow the journey from stunning spiral galaxies to plain old giant ellipticals.
Dead stars do tell tales
Giant stars live only a short time, but have a profound effect on the galaxies that host them. Investigating them doesn’t require them to be brought back from the dead however, as today’s paper shows.
“Did I tell you about the time I was hit by a galaxy?”
“…and other lesson’s I learned when I was a spiral galaxy” — Our ideas of what happens to galaxies when they crash into each other comes mostly from simulations. But what if those results aren’t as trustworthy as we think? By watching a galaxy merger in the highest detail we can, we see that collisions may not be as destructive as we thought, and you just might survive a head-long crash into another galaxy.
Black holes and populations
Every massive galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole – but how do these cosmic monsters affect the stars they share their galaxy with?
Mosaic galaxies – from where do galaxies get their stars?
Giant galaxies are built out of a patchwork of many smaller galaxies, drawn together by gravity. But the stars in these precursor galaxies are disimilar. How does this process of galactic assembly affect what we can infer about star formation?
How black hole and merger can kill a galaxy
Magnificent though they are, galaxies are in constant risk of death from their own members and the environment. Today, we look at a murder act staged by black holes and mergers.