While investigating nearby galaxies, including our closest neighbor Andromeda, astronomers were surprised to discover that most of them showed signs of having gobbled down smaller galaxies. The structures, too small to make it on their own around the giants they orbited, were cannibalized and became a part of the mas... |
11 January 2010
11:05 GMT |
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The southern constellation of Pavo is at this point the host of a peculiar case of galactic cannibalism, taking place between the galaxies NGC6872 and IC4970. The former is the larger one, seen here at the center of the image, while the latter is the small one in the upper part of the photo. The two galaxies were rec... |
11 December 2009
11:23 GMT |
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One of the biggest unanswered questions regarding the Universe today is why there are two types of galaxies, one that has trailing spiral arms, such as our own Milky Way, and one that looks more like a compact ball of stars, known as a barrel galaxy. Astronomers have struggled with this question for a long time, and ... |
24 November 2009
16:01 GMT |
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