A barred galaxy's massive molecular inflow

Large amounts of gas are sometimes funneled to a galaxy's nuclear regions, with profound consequences. The gas triggers starburst activity and can also feed the supermassive black hole, converting it into an active galactic ...

Galaxy mergers could limit star formation

Astronomers have looked nine billion years into the past to find evidence that galaxy mergers in the early universe could shut down star formation and affect galaxy growth.

Family tree of the Milky Way deciphered

Scientists have known for some time that galaxies can grow by the merging of smaller galaxies, but the ancestry of our own Milky Way galaxy has been a long-standing mystery. Now, an international team of astrophysicists has ...

Feeding a galaxy's nuclear black hole

A galactic bar is the approximately linear structure of stars and gas that stretches across the inner regions of some galaxies. The bar stretches from one inner spiral arm, across the nuclear region, to an arm on the other ...

Researchers reveal the origins of merging black holes

Over the past five years, astronomy has been revolutionised as scientists have used ripples in the fabric of spacetime, called gravitational waves, to reveal the secrets of the previously hidden world of black holes. Gravitational ...

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