STScI: Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution

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STScI: Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution

Post by bystander » Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:39 pm

Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution
NASA | STScI | HubbleSite | 2017 Jun 21
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By combining the power of a "natural lens" in space with the capability of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers made a surprising discovery—the first example of a compact yet massive, fast-spinning, disk-shaped galaxy that stopped making stars only a few billion years after the big bang.

Finding such a galaxy early in the history of the universe challenges the current understanding of how massive galaxies form and evolve, say researchers.

When Hubble photographed the galaxy, astronomers expected to see a chaotic ball of stars formed through galaxies merging together. Instead, they saw evidence that the stars were born in a pancake-shaped disk.

This is the first direct observational evidence that at least some of the earliest so-called "dead" galaxies — where star formation stopped — somehow evolve from a Milky Way-shaped disk into the giant elliptical galaxies we see today.

This is a surprise because elliptical galaxies contain older stars, while spiral galaxies typically contain younger blue stars. At least some of these early "dead" disk galaxies must have gone through major makeovers. They not only changed their structure, but also the motions of their stars to make a shape of an elliptical galaxy. ...

A massive, dead disk galaxy in the early Universe - Sune Toft et al
Attachments
Galaxy Cluster MACS J2129-0741 and Lensed Galaxy MACS2129-1<br />Science: NASA, ESA, and S. Toft (University of Copenhagen)<br />Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), and the CLASH team
Galaxy Cluster MACS J2129-0741 and Lensed Galaxy MACS2129-1
Science: NASA, ESA, and S. Toft (University of Copenhagen)
Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), and the CLASH team
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