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White Space by G.S. Wolfe5/29/2023 In the beginning, halo-like structures of dark matter, a large, unseen component of the universe known by its effect on surrounding matter, drew in gas. Much of what astronomers know about galaxy formation is based on hierarchy. So how did a well-formed rotating disk galaxy appear during this turbulent period? This galaxy formed and grew, researchers concluded, in a different way, known as cold-mode accretion. The study published this week in the journal Nature. “These hot mergers make it difficult to form well-ordered, cold rotating disks like we observe in our present universe.” “Most galaxies that we find early in the universe look like train wrecks because they underwent consistent and often ‘violent’ merging,” said Marcel Neeleman, lead study author and postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, in a statement. The Milky Way may be kicking stars into its outer halo A simulated galaxy image from the FIRE-2 project, representing a structure spanning more than 200,000 light years, shows the prominent plumes of young blue stars born in gas that was originally rotating and then blown radially outward by supernova explosions.Ĭourtesy of Sijie Yu/University of California - Irvine
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