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.
This striking pair of galaxies located 80 million light-years from Earth lies in the constellation Leo against a backdrop of distant galaxies. The barred spiral galaxy NGC 3504 is seen on the right, and the spiral galaxy ...
Astronomy
Jun 25, 2026
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This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy cluster called CL0016+1609, or MACS J0018.5+1626, that is very bright at X-ray wavelengths and is one of the most extensively studied clusters at X-ray and radio wavelengths. ...
Astronomy
Jun 18, 2026
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A Yale-led team of astronomers has found a third galaxy devoid of dark matter—located alongside the other two in a formation that has never been seen before. Astronomers have followed a faint, cosmic trail of gas to a third ...
Astronomy
Jun 16, 2026
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No matter the time or vantage point, from a pre-Neolithic cave to a post-lockdown London high-rise, the predictability of the night sky has always been humanity's symbol of permanence and reassuring stability.
Astronomy
Jun 10, 2026
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Astronomers have discovered a "galaxy-killing wind" that may explain why there are far more massive "dead" galaxies than expected in the early universe. This wind, powered by cosmic collisions between galaxies, could quickly ...
Astronomy
Jun 10, 2026
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Astronomers have identified a possible new example of one of the universe's strangest galaxy types: galaxies that appear to contain little or no dark matter. The newly studied pair, FCC 224 and FCC 240, on the outskirts of ...
Using more than a decade of observations from the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC), researchers measured the motions of millions of stars across the Small Magellanic Cloud with unprecedented precision. The new ...
Astronomy
Jun 2, 2026
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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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