Tag

Galaxy Evolution

All articles tagged with #galaxy evolution

astronomy7 days ago•119 min saved

Black Hole Jets Quench Galaxy Star Formation by Disrupting Distant Gas Reserves

A new study reveals that supermassive black holes suppress star formation in their host galaxies by launching plasma jets that heat and disrupt the circumgalactic medium (CGM). This gas reservoir, which extends 10-20 times beyond the visible galaxy, provides the raw material for new stars. By ionizing this gas along specific paths, black holes prevent it from cooling and collapsing into stars, effectively 'killing' the galaxy's growth. The findings, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, solve a long-standing mystery regarding why large galaxies do not produce more stars despite being surrounded by vast amounts of potential fuel.

via Space|

#astronomy #black-holes #circumgalactic-medium

astronomy10 days ago•120 min saved

Rogue Black Holes May Preserve Galactic Histories as Cosmic Wanderers

New research suggests that black holes ejected from their home galaxies during mergers act as 'cosmic archivists,' retaining records of their origin. These 'rogue' black holes, which can travel for billions of years, may help resolve debates about whether early black holes formed from collapsing stars or dense gas clouds. The findings indicate that studying wandering black holes is crucial for understanding the formation and dynamics of massive black holes in the early universe.

via Space|

#astronomy #astrophysics #black-holes

space22 days ago•3 min saved

Black holes jet out in two predictable bursts after devouring a star

Astronomers analyzing 20 tidal disruption events with radio telescopes found that black holes—ranging from stellar to supermassive—generate jets in two distinct phases of feeding: during high accretion and again hundreds to thousands of days after disruption when the accretion rate falls to about 2% of its maximum. This timing is consistent across black hole sizes, enabling precise jet predictions and more efficient use of telescope time.

via theguardian.com|

#black-holes #galaxy-evolution #jets

space-and-astronomy1 month ago•49 min saved

JWST imagery hints the 'little red dots' are distant galactic cores, not new objects

New JWST imagery suggests the enigmatic 'little red dots' seen in deep-field images are likely ordinary distant galaxies whose bright centers outshine the rest, rather than a new class of object. Researchers used the nearby spiral galaxy Saguaro (about 3.3 billion years after the Big Bang) to model how such galaxies would look at earlier epochs, showing that LRDs could be early-universe galaxies with active nuclei and offering clues about how galaxies and their central black holes grew over cosmic time.

via Yahoo|

#black-holes #galaxy-evolution #james-webb-space-telescope

space2 months ago•134 min saved

Webb's Saguaro image reframes the little red dots puzzle

A new JWST view of the nearby Saguaro galaxy helps explain the universe’s enigmatic “little red dots”: rather than vanishing, these sources may be ordinary, distant galaxies whose bright centers dominate when observed at great distances, implying LRDs are a short-lived phase in early supermassive-black-hole growth rather than a new class of objects.

via Live Science|

#galaxy-evolution #james-webb-space-telescope #little-red-dots

space2 months ago•159 min saved

JWST's little red dots point to a new path in galaxy evolution

New JWST findings suggest the mysterious 'little red dots' are not a separate class but a developmental phase in galaxies with growing supermassive black holes. A z=2 galaxy nicknamed 'Saguaro' (WISEA J123635.56+621424.2) shows a bright infrared core with an obscured AGN and faint X‑rays, hinting these dots evolve into fully formed galaxies like the Milky Way.

via Space|

#active-galactic-nucleus #galaxy-evolution #high-redshift

space2 months ago•104 min saved

Hubble’s deep dive shows Andromeda winding down its star formation

Using two major Hubble surveys mapping roughly two-thirds of Andromeda’s disk, researchers traced star formation over the past 500 million years and found the galaxy’s rate has declined from about 1 solar mass per year to roughly 0.2 per year, with most recent star formation concentrated in a ring about 32,000 light-years from the center. This winding-down pattern suggests Andromeda is returning to a quiescent state after a past starburst likely tied to a merger with its companion M32; its collision with the Milky Way, about 5 billion years away, remains uncertain. The work, published July 27, 2026 in The Astrophysical Journal, underscores Hubble’s detailed view and points to broader surveys by NASA’s Roman Space Telescope.

via Live Science|

#andromeda #galaxy-evolution #hubble

space2 months ago•12 min saved

Webb spots colossal early black holes that dwarf their host galaxies, upending growth theories

Webb observations of the early universe reveal a population of compact red objects hosting actively accreting black holes that, in some cases, rival or exceed the host galaxy’s stellar mass, challenging the standard coevolution picture; proposed explanations include unusually heavy seed black holes and bursts of rapid accretion, with spectroscopy and time-lapse imaging of the gas around these black holes planned to help determine how these giants formed.

via Space Daily|

#black-hole-growth #early-universe #galaxy-evolution

space2 months ago•7 min saved

JWST Reveals Filament Recycling That Feeds Supermassive Black Holes

New JWST observations of NGC 4696 show an 800-light-year rotating gas disk fed by filaments that cool and funnel gas toward the central black hole; magnetic fields transfer angular momentum, enabling accretion, while the disk’s wobble shifts jets to heat gas more evenly, illustrating a self-sustaining cosmic recycling that lets black holes keep growing and may occur in other clusters.

via WIRED|

#accretion #black-holes #galaxy-evolution

space3 months ago•5 min saved

JWST Marks Fourth Anniversary With New Infrared Portraits of Centaurus A

To mark its fourth year of science operations, NASA, ESA, and CSA released new JWST images of Centaurus A (NGC 5128), showcasing the galaxy's dust structures and star-forming regions in unprecedented infrared detail thanks to the telescope's NIRCam and MIRI cameras, enabling galactic archaeology and a clearer view of Centaurus A's turbulent past and evolution.

via PetaPixel|

#centaurus-a #galaxy-evolution #infrared-astronomy

astronomy3 months ago•89 min saved

JWST maps the cosmos with its largest, most detailed 3D survey

Using the COSMOS-Web program, the James Webb Space Telescope has produced the largest-ever 3D map of the universe, charting about 164,000 galaxies over a 255-hour survey to reveal the cosmic web’s skeleton from the present back to when the universe was under 1 billion years old. The map shows dense regions fostering early galaxy growth and, later, environmental quenching in massive galaxies—likely driven by massive dark matter halos and feedback from supermassive black holes—providing new insight into how the large-scale structure of the cosmos evolved. The COSMOS-Web galaxy catalog is publicly available for researchers.

via Live Science|

#astronomy #cosmic-web #cosmos-web

space3 months ago•13 min saved

Webb Resolves 16.5 Million Stars in the Cigar Galaxy, Unveiling a Brief, Intense Starburst

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has resolved 16.5 million stars in Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy) in a deep infrared image, revealing a starburst forming stars about ten times faster than the Milky Way. The count represents Webb’s resolution limit in this image, not the galaxy’s total stellar population, as many stars are too faint or buried in dust. The burst is expected to last only a few hundred million years and is thought to be triggered by a past galactic encounter, with outflows and dust structures visible. The study showcases how Webb and Hubble data together can help reconstruct M82’s history and the mechanics of extreme star formation in nearby galaxies.

via Space Daily|

#galaxy-evolution #infrared-astronomy #james-webb-space-telescope

space3 months ago•5 min saved

JWST's 223-Megapixel Portrait Reveals 16.5 Million Stars in Messier 82

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spent 65 hours capturing a 223-megapixel, near-infrared image of Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy), resolving about 16.5 million stars and revealing a distended disk; when combined with Hubble data, the image helps scientists study M82's unusually rapid star formation (around 10 times faster than the Milky Way) and its evolutionary history.

via PetaPixel|

#astronomy #galaxy-evolution #james-webb-space-telescope

space3 months ago•8 min saved

Webb Maps 16.5 Million Stars in the Cigar Galaxy, Tracing Its Starburst History

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope revealed about 16.5 million individual stars in edge-on Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy) by peering through dust, mapping its distended disk and a rapid, merger-driven starburst. The Webb data, complemented by Hubble observations, help researchers probe how star formation and outflows have shaped M82 over the past few hundred million years.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#cigar-galaxy #galaxy-evolution #james-webb-space-telescope

space3 months ago•83 min saved

Powerful winds from early galaxies revealed by Webb

New James Webb Space Telescope observations of the merging galaxy CRISTAL-02, about 1 billion years after the Big Bang, show an enormous gas outflow (~1.5 billion solar masses) and a star-formation rate of ~260 solar masses per year, while gas is being expelled at >500 solar masses per year. The winds, driven by rapid star formation and supernovae (and possibly aided by a black hole), can energize and disperse molecular gas, quenching star formation. If the outflow continues, the galaxy could exhaust its fuel in under 100 million years, offering a window into a widespread mechanism that could explain the abundance of quiescent galaxies in the early universe and inform cosmological simulations—and it hints at similar futures for galaxies like the Milky Way when they collide with Andromeda.

via Live Science|

#cristal-02 #early-universe #galactic-winds