14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers have recently observed a series of large galaxies as they were consuming smaller versions of themselves, in order to increase their bulk and mass.
The fact that galaxies tend to collide and merge with each other is nothing new, and experts have been observing some of these cosmic events for many years.
One of them, the Antennae Galaxies, are even renowned around the world. They were imaged with Hubble a few years back, and have since become the unofficial symbol of galactic mergers.
At this point, astrophysicists believe that even the Milky Way engaged in such behavior in the past, when it started to gobble up smaller, dwarf galaxies in its surroundings.
Traces of those bodies can still be seen today, in the anomalous behavior and number of star clusters located throughout the galaxy, as well as in the properties of the supermassive black hole at its core.
But the new observations show for the first time galactic cannibalism taking place outside of the Milky Way's local neighborhood.
The research group, led by expert David Martinez-Delgado, found that dwarf galaxies appear to be heavily influenced by these collisions, especially as far as their shapes go.
Massive distortions appear, and some of the most common side effects of mergers include the development of tidal Tails and tendrils, that completely surround and grasp the larger galaxy.
Martinez-Delgado, who holds a joint appointment at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, in Germany, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the Spanish Canary Islands, also collaborated with amateur astronomers for the research.
The expert says that the recent investigation proved the existence of galactic mergers in galaxies up to 50 million light-years, Space reports.
According to the research team, it would appear that the tidal tails are produced under the incredibly strong gravitational pull that the larger galaxies exert on the near side of smaller ones.
Their appearance is determined by the fact that stars are more distant from the larger galaxy lag behind those who are closer. The latter travel at much higher speeds.
The new scientific research will be published in the October issue of the esteemed Astronomical Journal.