Interacting galaxies as a research area focuses on the dynamical, hydrodynamical, and radiative processes that occur when galaxies experience mutual gravitational influence, including fly-bys, minor and major mergers, and tidal encounters. Studies combine N-body and hydrodynamical simulations with multiwavelength observations to investigate tidal tails, bridges, bars, and induced starbursts, as well as gas inflows, feedback, and morphological transformation. This field is central to understanding hierarchical structure formation, the build-up of stellar mass, triggering and regulation of active galactic nuclei, and environmental effects on galaxy evolution across cosmic time, often using statistically defined samples from large surveys alongside detailed case studies.
Astronomers may have uncovered a hidden supermassive black hole inside the famous Antennae galaxies NGC 4038/4039, a pair of colliding galaxies best known for their spectacular bursts of star formation. The paper outlining ...
A new study led by researchers at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) reveals how the disks of galaxies like the Milky Way are affected ...
Astronomy
May 18, 2026
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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have made a surprising discovery about a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away: It isn't rotating. That's something only seen in the most massive, mature galaxies that are ...
Astronomy
May 9, 2026
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Astronomers, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have confirmed the existence of a close quasar pair housed in a pair of merging galaxies seen when the universe was less than a billion years old, ...
Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are one of the most active fields of research in astronomy. In order to accumulate their enormous masses, they must merge with each other. A research team led by Silke Britzen ...
Astronomy
Apr 7, 2026
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Astronomers have long argued that dark matter is the invisible scaffolding that holds galaxies together. Without its immense gravitational pull, the rotational spins of galaxies would force them to simply fly apart. But now, ...
Astronomy
Apr 2, 2026
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An astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is using data from the Canada–France–Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea to help reconstruct a slow-motion cosmic collision, one that has been unfolding for hundreds of ...
Astronomy
Apr 1, 2026
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The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors—a small, gas-rich galaxy visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere, and bound to our galaxy by gravity, alongside its companion, ...
Astronomy
Mar 16, 2026
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A fleet of NASA missions has likely uncovered a collision between two ultradense stars in a tiny galaxy buried in a huge stream of gas. Astronomers have never seen this type of explosive event in an environment like this ...
Astronomy
Mar 10, 2026
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A recently detected flash of energy appears to have emanated from the wreckage of colliding galaxies, according to an international team of astronomers led by Penn State scientists. The burst, known as GRB 230906A, was likely ...
Astronomy
Mar 10, 2026
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