News
Scientific American - A galactic growth spurt
Published: 11 May 2011
Galaxies litter the cosmos by the hundreds of billions. But there could easily be many, many more. In the May issue of Scientific American, astronomer [post doc] James E. Geach of Ï㽶ÊÓƵ explores why so little of the matter created in the big bang went on to become the raw material for making galaxies.
One reason is a phenomenon called feedback—as galaxies accrete matter, they also spew gas back out into space. In the simulation below, a developing galaxy is undergoing feedback, ejecting material into intergalactic space as it grows.