Galaxy Formation and Evolution

The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby galaxies. It is one of the most active research areas in astrophysics.

Galaxy formation is hypothesized to occur, from structure formation theories, as a result of tiny quantum fluctuations in the aftermath of the Big Bang. The simplest model for this that is in general agreement with observed phenomena is the Cold Dark Matter cosmology; that is to say that clustering and merging is how galaxies gain in mass, and can also determine their shape and structure.

Read more about Galaxy Formation And Evolution:  Formation of The First Galaxies, Commonly Observed Properties of Galaxies, Formation of Disk Galaxies, Galaxy Mergers and The Formation of Elliptical Galaxies

Famous quotes containing the words galaxy, formation and/or evolution:

    for it is not so much to know the self
    as to know it as it is known
    by galaxy and cedar cone,
    as if birth had never found it

    and death could never end it:
    Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)

    Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful—the formation of fixed habits of work.
    Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)

    The evolution of humans can not only be seen as the grand total of their wars, it is also defined by the evolution of the human mind and the development of the human consciousness.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)