Galaxies from the SAMI survey, imaged with Japan’s Subaru telescope. Credit: D. Taranu (University of Western Australia), C. Foster (University of Sydney), NAOJ (the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
For the first time astronomers have measured how a galaxy’s spin affects its shape. It sounds simple, but measuring a galaxy’s true 3D shape is a tricky problem that astronomers first tried to solve 90 years ago. “This is the first time we’ve been able to reliably measure how a galaxy’s shape depends on any of its other properties – in this case, its rotation speed,” said research team leader Dr Caroline Foster of the University of Sydney, who completed this research while working at the Australian Astronomical Observatory.
Galaxies can be shaped like a pancake, a sea urchin or a foo...
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