Dr. Kathryn Johnston

Professor of Astronomy

Galactic Cannibalism

Images of galaxies are often awe-inspiring - spirals of billions of stars spinning slowly in the sky. Yet these magical objects are thought to have formed quite violently through the agglomeration of smaller objects. Even our own home - the Milky Way galaxy - seems to be in the process of devouring several smaller galaxies! This talk examines why we think galaxies are cannibals from both observational and theoretical perspectives.