The "Frankenstein" Galaxy

By Victoria Clare

Posted September 23, 2020

Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin

Transcript

D: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Y: Wait. Wait, Don. How far away?

D: 250 million light years. May I keep going?

Y: Keep going.

D: Strange things happened to a galaxy that made it different from any galaxy we know today.

Y: Are we still talking about the same galaxy?

D: Yep, same galaxy.

Y: Maybe it'll be best if you start from the beginning.

D: Fine. What I want to talk about today is a galaxy called UGC 1382. For a long time, scientists thought it was a fairly small, run‑of‑the mill galaxy. But when a couple of researchers happened to be looking at images of it in ultraviolet light, they noticed that it actually had huge spiral arms. Then, after putting together data from a lot of different telescopes, they found that it was ten times larger than originally thought.

Y: Wow.

D: But what's even more interesting is that scientists theorize that the stars in the galaxy's center are younger than the stars in the spiral disc surrounding it. Usually, it's the other way around---galaxies grow outward, so stars, like tree rings, are youngest at the edges.

Y: Did they figure out what happened?

D: They have a guess. First, there may have been a group of small galaxies in that corner of the universe. Then, much later, a lenticular galaxy‑‑a galaxy that is a rotating disc with spiral arms‑‑formed nearby. More time passed, and the smaller, older galaxies fell into orbit around the larger lenticular one.

Y: Like a Frankenstein galaxy! A long time ago, in a Frankenstein galaxy far, far away...

D: That does make a more intriguing opening.

Two different NASA pictures of a galaxy, showing it to be much larger than originally thought. (NASA, Wikimedia Commons)

Today's Moment of Science is about a galaxy called UGC 1382. For a long time, scientists thought it was a fairly small, run-of-the mill galaxy.

But when a couple of researchers happened to be looking at images of it in ultraviolet light, they noticed that it actually had huge spiral arms. Then, after putting together data from a lot of different telescopes, they found that it was ten times longer than originally thought.

What's even more interesting is that scientists theorize that the stars in the galaxy's center are younger than the stars in the spiral disc surrounding it. Usually it's the other way around: galaxies grow outward, so stars, like tree rings, are youngest at the edges.

Scientists do have a guess about what happened. First, there may have been a group of small galaxies in that corner of the universe. Then, much later, a lenticular galaxy (one that is a rotating disc with spiral arms) formed nearby. More time passed, and the smaller, older galaxies fell into orbit around the larger lenticular one . . . like a Frankenstein galaxy.