Monster galaxies eat smaller galaxies

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Monster galaxies gain weight by eating smaller neighbours

Massive galaxies in the Universe have stopped making their own stars and are instead snacking on nearby galaxies, according to research by Australian scientists.

Astronomers looked at more than 22,000 galaxies and found that while smaller galaxies were very efficient at creating stars from gas, the most massive galaxies were much less efficient at star formation, producing hardly any new stars themselves, and instead grew by eating other galaxies.

The study was released today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, published by Oxford University Press.

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