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Feb 6, 2021

Astronomers Can Predict When a Galaxy’s Star Formation Ends Based on the Shape and Size of its Disk

Posted by in categories: business, cosmology

Eventually, galaxies stop making new stars. But why did some stop so much sooner than others? Hint: black holes play a role.


A galaxy’s main business is star formation. And when they’re young, like youth everywhere, they keep themselves busy with it. But galaxies age, evolve, and experience a slow-down in their rate of star formation. Eventually, galaxies cease forming new stars altogether, and astronomers call that quenching. They’ve been studying quenching for decades, yet much about it remains a mystery.

A new study based on the IllustrisTNG simulations has found a link between a galaxy’s quenching and its stellar size.

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