Galaxies still generate a far larger amount of questions than the answers they provide to scientists, ever since people first turned their attention towards outer space. Although several theories have been issued related to the process that leads to their formation, the exact paths and factors that influence said process remain a mystery. A recent study indicates that, however different they may appear in shape, all galaxies respect the same proportions upon formation.

 

The commonly accepted theory involving galaxy emergence shows that the large ones were first just some immense cold dark matter thickets, which acted as a magnet for massive amounts of gas and dust that started forming a vast number of stars. Over billions of years, the neighboring celestial clumps collided and merged, creating bigger galaxies, as we know them today. However, the recently discovered exceptions that formed in the first millions of years after the Big Bang (our own Milky Way being one of them) come to somehow thwart that theory.

 

That is why Michael Disney from the Cardiff University in U.K, together with a group of astronomers, has decided to test whether a large number of randomly-chosen galaxies share similar properties. A positive result would mean that there is a celestial formula that dictates the way they form and behave during their evolutionary process. The researchers randomly picked 200 galaxies (relying on the radio emissions of their hydrogenous clouds), and compared them amongst each other. Although they were absolutely non-similar in terms of size, light, shape or content, the proportions between all these factors was found to be constant.

 

This means that, if a single property is measured, all the others can be deduced from it. The specialists believe it is mass that influences the other proportions, but they are not sure. In Disney's own words, “What totally surprised us is the idea that such a diverse population is nevertheless controlled by a single, so-far-unidentified parameter. If you ask me, this throws the whole troubled theory of galaxy formation back into the melting pot.”