Galaxies are gravitationally bound, large-scale astrophysical systems composed primarily of dark matter, stars, stellar remnants, gas, and dust, often embedded in extended dark matter halos. They exhibit diverse morphologies, including spiral, elliptical, and irregular types, and span mass scales from roughly 10⁷ to over 10¹² solar masses. Their internal dynamics are governed by gravity and angular momentum distribution, with baryonic components organized into disks, bulges, and halos, and frequently hosting central supermassive black holes. Galaxies are fundamental units of cosmic structure formation, participating in hierarchical assembly, mergers, and interactions within larger environments such as groups, clusters, and filaments of the cosmic web.
Also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, M87 is the brightest object in the Virgo cluster of galaxies, the largest gravitationally bound type of structure in the universe. It came to fame in April 2019 after scientists from EHT ...
Astronomy
Dec 13, 2024
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Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have observed a dusty star-forming galaxy known as SPT 0538−50. Results of the observational campaign, presented Dec. 4 on the arXiv pre-print server, ...
NGC 1068 is a well-known, relatively nearby, bright galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center. Despite its status as a popular target for astronomers, however, its accretion disk is obscured by thick clouds of dust ...
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2024
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Astronomers have employed the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to observe an ultra-diffuse galaxy known as VCC 615. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper posted Dec. 2 to the preprint server arXiv, yield ...
Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, is one of the most prominent spiral galaxies in the night sky. It's named for its resemblance to the Pinwheel galaxy and spans around 50,000 light-years, making it much ...
Astronomy
Dec 9, 2024
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Every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, much like every egg has a yolk. But sometimes, hens lay eggs with two yolks. In a similar way, astrophysicists like us who study supermassive black holes expect to ...
Astronomy
Dec 5, 2024
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NGC 5257 and NGC 5258 are gravitationally interacting galaxies of similar size and mass in the constellation Virgo.
Astronomy
Dec 5, 2024
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Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have found new galaxies in the Spiderweb protocluster. Their characteristics shed light on the growth of galaxies in these large cosmic ...
Astronomy
Dec 4, 2024
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Astronomers say they are close to solving an intergalactic mystery about the creation of the universe's biggest galaxies which has puzzled experts for decades.
Astronomy
Dec 4, 2024
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Astronomers are closer than ever to working out how the biggest galaxies in the cosmos grew so quickly before dying.
Astronomy
Nov 27, 2024
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