A candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, so the saying goes. We’ve thought of galaxies in the same way, in that the brightest galaxies (ones with high rates of star production) are likely in a cosmologically brief period of high activity. But new computer models suggest that might not be the case.
The Grand Design
When you think of a galaxy, you likely think of a spiral galaxy. More specifically, you likely imagine a spiral galaxy with two large sweeping arms of stars, such as the image of the Whirlpool Galaxy above. Such a galaxy is known as a grand design spiral, and while it’s an iconic style, it isn’t particularly common among galaxies.
Cosmic Ring is Interesting, But Not Impossible
A ring of nine gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been observed in the southern hemisphere. The ring is more than 5 billion light years across, which is larger than we’d expect for a cosmic structure. But it’s important not to read too much into this discovery.
Radio Phoenix
When galaxies collide, the diffuse material surrounding them can collide to produce a radio phoenix.
Twin Giants
A supermassive black hole lurks in the center of our galaxy. But two supermassive black holes lurk in some galaxies.
The Youngest Distance Galaxy
There’s a new record for the most distant galaxy, or the youngest galaxy depending on your point of view.
Hidden in the Dark
There are more nearby dwarf galaxies than we thought, and that may answer a mystery of dark matter.
Hiding in Plain Sight
An ultracompact dwarf galaxy has only about 100 million stars, but they are packed into a region only 200 light years across. In such a galaxy you might see a million stars with the naked eye.
Stranger In a Strange Land
The stars in our galaxy can change orbits over time. Through “close encounters” with other stars, they can find themselves in very different regions of the galaxy than their region of origin. Now new research finds that about a third of stars drift to new orbits in their lifetime.