Open AccessThe story of galaxy evolution in full colour
Author(s) -
Ellis Richard S,
Abraham Roberto G,
Brinchmann Jarle,
Menanteau Felipe
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
astronomy & geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.168
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-4004
pISSN - 1366-8781
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-4004.2000.00210.x
Subject(s) - spiral galaxy , hubble sequence , context (archaeology) , milky way , astronomy , galaxy , physics , hubble space telescope , astrophysics , paleontology , geology
A Holy Grail of modern astronomy is understanding the origin of Edwin Hubble's morphological sequence of galaxy types. What made some collapsing gas clouds turn into elegant spiral systems like our own Milky Way, whereas others became smooth, featureless ellipticals? More fundamentally, does the taxonomic scheme introduced by Hubble in the 1920s have any physical relevance? The Space Telescope that bears Hubble's name is providing answers to these and other questions in the context of modern theories of structure formation. Richard S Ellis, Roberto G Abraham, Jarle Brinchmann and Felipe Menanteau show how modern telescopes producing colourful images are pointing the way to understanding galaxy evolution.