The Star Spot Episode 91: Monster Galaxies of the Early Universe, with Henry Joy McCracken

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Feature Guest: Henry Joy McCracken

ESO’s VISTA survey telescope has spied a horde of previously hidden massive galaxies that existed when the Universe was in its infancy. By discovering and studying more of these galaxies than ever before, astronomers have for the first time found out exactly when such monster galaxies first appeared. The newly discovered massive galaxies are marked on this image of the UltraVISTA field.

Last month scientists announced the shocking discovery of 574 monster galaxies from the ancient universe. There are surprisingly many such giant galaxies, and they seem to appear more suddenly and earlier than astronomers predicted. How might this finding upend our understanding of galaxy and structure formation in the universe? To help us answer that question we’re joined by the discovery’s co-investigator Henry Joy McCracken.

This episode is dedicated to my wife Denise Fong, on our 6 month anniversary. Denise and I met at the 10th episode celebration of The Star Spot over 3 years ago. It has been a great pleasure to work with you Denise to grow our show and to further public education for astronomy, our common passion. – Justin

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About Our Guest

Henry Joy McCracken has worked as a researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris in France since 2003. He received his masters from the University of Victoria and his PhD from the University of Durham. His interests include galaxy formation and evolution and the evolving relationship between dark matter and normal matter.

Links

Space.com: These Ancient Monster Galaxies Have Scientists Perplexed

ESO Science Release: The Birth of Monsters

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If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

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