Study: Direction in Which Galaxies Spin Depends on Their Mass

Astronomers have measured the rotation of 1,418 galaxies and found that small ones are likely to spin on a different axis to large ones. The rotation was measured in relation to each galaxy’s closest cosmic filament.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Study: Direction in Which Galaxies Spin Depends on Their Mass

Astronomers have measured the rotation of 1,418 galaxies and found that small ones are likely to spin on a different axis to large ones. The rotation was measured in relation to each galaxy’s closest cosmic filament.

more…

Very odd

dv said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Study: Direction in Which Galaxies Spin Depends on Their Mass

Astronomers have measured the rotation of 1,418 galaxies and found that small ones are likely to spin on a different axis to large ones. The rotation was measured in relation to each galaxy’s closest cosmic filament.

more…

Very odd

> studied each of the target galaxies and measured its spin in relation to its nearest filament. They found that smaller ones tended to rotate in direct alignment to the filaments, while larger ones turned at right angles. The alignment changes from the first to the second as galaxies, drawn by gravity towards the spine of a filament, collide and merge with others, thus gaining mass.

Yep, that makes sense. I’m not going to track down the details to see how significant this “tendency” is. My money is on less than three standard deviations.

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Study: Direction in Which Galaxies Spin Depends on Their Mass

Astronomers have measured the rotation of 1,418 galaxies and found that small ones are likely to spin on a different axis to large ones. The rotation was measured in relation to each galaxy’s closest cosmic filament.

more…

Very odd

> studied each of the target galaxies and measured its spin in relation to its nearest filament. They found that smaller ones tended to rotate in direct alignment to the filaments, while larger ones turned at right angles. The alignment changes from the first to the second as galaxies, drawn by gravity towards the spine of a filament, collide and merge with others, thus gaining mass.

Yep, that makes sense. I’m not going to track down the details to see how significant this “tendency” is. My money is on less than three standard deviations.

Is that because the greater mass allows the galaxy to do more of its own thing in relation to spin direction even though its mostly dominated by the filament.