New theory of evolution for spiral galaxy arms
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 11:31
in Astronomy & Space
A study of spiral patterns found in galaxies like our Milky Way could overturn the theory of how the spiral arm features form and evolve. Since 1960s, the most widely accepted explanation has been that the spiral arm features move like a Mexican wave in a crowd, passing through a population of stars that then return to their original position. Computer simulations now suggest that the stars actually rotate with the arms.