News tagged with galaxy formation

Dark matter core defies explanation

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using data from NASA's Hubble Telescope have observed what appears to be a clump of dark matter left behind from a wreck between massive clusters of galaxies. The result could ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 02, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (25) | comments 87 | with audio podcast

Researchers say galaxy may swarm with 'nomad planets'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our galaxy may be awash in homeless planets, wandering through space instead of orbiting a star.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 23, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (23) | comments 31 | with audio podcast

Hubble confirms: galaxies are ultimate recyclers

(PhysOrg.com) -- New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are expanding astronomers' understanding of the ways in which galaxies continuously recycle immense volumes of hydrogen gas and heavy elements. ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 80 | with audio podcast

Hubble uncovers tiny galaxies bursting with starbirth in early Universe

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using its infrared vision to peer nine billion years back in time, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an extraordinary population of tiny, young galaxies that are brimming with ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 44 | with audio podcast

Scientists release most accurate simulation of the universe to date

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Bolshoi supercomputer simulation, the most accurate and detailed large cosmological simulation run to date, gives physicists and astronomers a powerful new tool for understanding such ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (16) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Dark matter packs a punch: Milky Way's spiral arms formed by intergalactic collision

The signature spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy were likely formed by an epic collision between the Milky Way and the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, according to a University of Pittsburgh researcher and his ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 14, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (11) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Chandra finds nearest pair of supermassive black holes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to discover the first pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way. At a distance of 160 million light ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Astrophysicists report first simulation to create a Milky Way-like galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- After nine months of number-crunching on a powerful supercomputer, a beautiful spiral galaxy matching our own Milky Way emerged from a computer simulation of the physics involved in galaxy ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 29, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (13) | comments 45 | with audio podcast

Exotic galaxy reveals tantalizing tale

(PhysOrg.com) -- A galaxy with a combination of characteristics never seen before is giving astronomers a tantalizing peek at processes they believe played key roles in the growth of galaxies and clusters ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Herschel Space Observatory discovers source of cosmic dust in a stellar explosion

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Herschel Space Observatory is helping unravel the mystery of where cosmic dust comes from. Thanks to the resolution and sensitivity of Herschel, astronomers have been able to detect ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

New class of stellar explosions discovered

They're bright and blue-and a bit strange. They're a new type of stellar explosion that was recently discovered by a team of astronomers led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Among the most ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 08, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Astrophysicists use X-ray fingerprints to study eating habits of giant black holes

By studying the X-rays emitted when superheated gases plunge into distant and massive black holes, astrophysicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have provided an important test of a long-standing ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 06, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

New candidate for most distant object in universe

(PhysOrg.com) -- A gamma-ray burst detected by NASA's Swift satellite in April 2009 has been newly unveiled as a candidate for the most distant object in the universe. At an estimated distance of 13.14 billion ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Raging storms sweep away galactic gas

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory has detected raging winds of molecular gas streaming away from galaxies. Suspected for years, these outflows may have the power to strip galaxies ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 09, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Herschel finds less dark matter but more stars

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Herschel space observatory has discovered a population of dust-enshrouded galaxies that do not need as much dark matter as previously thought to collect gas and burst into star formation.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 16, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (16) | comments 31 | with audio podcast

Galaxy formation and evolution

The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby galaxies. It is one of the most active research areas in astrophysics.

Galaxy formation is believed to occur, from structure formation theories, as a result of tiny quantum fluctuations in the aftermath of the Big Bang. It is widely accepted that galaxy evolution occurs within the framework of a Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmology; that is to say that clustering and merging is how galaxies gain in mass, and can also determine their shape and structure.

For more information about Galaxy formation and evolution, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: dark matter , galaxies