only 300 years ago we assumed our galaxy was the only thing in the whole universe
but today we know that there are over 200 billion galaxies in the cosmos and they can
be as terrifying as they are wonderful welcome to fagnominal today we're going to take a trip to the
strangest and most fascinating galaxies in the observable universe number 10 the universe's eye
of all the galaxies in the universe this has got to be one of the most fascinating
the universe's eye as it is called gets its name from the fact that it appears to be a huge eye
looking down at everything made up of two spiral galaxies ngc 2207 and ic2163 they are colliding
spiral galaxies about 80 million light years away and were first discovered by john herschel in 1835
it was also nicknamed the eye of sauron from the lord of the rings films for its peculiar
shape and formation the larger spiral ngc 2207 is classified as an intermediate spiral galaxy
exhibiting a weak inner ring structure around the central bar the smaller companion spiral ic2163
is classified as a bar spiral galaxy that exhibits a weak inner ring and an elongated
spiral arm that is likely being stretched by tidal forces with a larger companion
both galaxies contain an incredible amount of dust and gas and are beginning to exhibit
enhanced star formation rates as seen in infrared images astronomers say that they are expected to
merge and become an elliptical galaxy or perhaps a disc galaxy in about a billion years as a lord
of the rings fan this is a galaxy i would love to see firsthand number nine the luminous thief
if you didn't already know galaxies are known to be constantly interacting with one another
they often squeeze their neighbors into completely new shapes and even steal
stars all this makes me wonder if this is really a cosmic structure
or a scene for minecraft but it just so happens that the galaxy w2246-0526
is the brightest known galaxy in the universe this galactic light thief has been sucking the
mass from its three neighbors for a while now not only that pictures have shown that it is one
of the only examples of galactic cannibalism where the galaxy is stealing from more than
one neighbor at a time so not only is this galaxy a thief it's a really really good one
number 8 the baby boom galaxy the baby boom galaxy is a starburst galaxy located 12.2 billion light
years away and was discovered by nasa's spitzer science center at the california institute of
technology like some other starbursts it is thought to be a collection of colliding galaxies
galaxies are known to produce stars from gas and dust slowly over time but this galaxy seems to
have a mind of its own she's like the big mama bear of all galaxies and she has been producing
stars at a rate that's never been seen before thus earning the nickname baby boom in fact this
galaxy manages to give birth to a new star in just two hours now that's some efficiency right there
the milky way on the other hand could probably take some lessons from baby boom
since it takes 36 days to do the same some say the baby boom galaxy will need
just about 50 million years to become the most massive galaxy in the universe though
none of us will be here to see that happen just know we're rooting for you baby boom
number 7 the jellyfish galaxy galaxy eso137-001
also fondly known as the jellyfish galaxy was first discovered by dr ming's son in
2005 and is located at the constellation triangulum australia in the cluster abell 3627
what makes this galaxy so spectacular is the fact that it bears a striking resemblance to
a jellyfish it moves around the cluster center at a phenomenal speed of 1900 kilometers per second
how cool is that composite images have shown x-rays from chandra in blue
optical emission in yellow and hydrogen light in red the x-ray tails were created when cool gas
from the galaxy with a temperature of about 10 degrees above absolute zero was stripped by hot
gas of about 100 million degrees as it travels through the center of the galaxy cluster the
stripping of this cool gas could be leading to new stars being formed in the tails behind the galaxy
the galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy meaning its stars form a spiral shape with a bar-shaped center
according to sources the star formation process inside the tale of dust and gas remain a mystery
to this very day number 6 the sunflower galaxy the sunflower galaxy otherwise known as messier 63
was discovered in 1779 by the french astronomer pierre michel
and was the first of 24 objects that meschen would contribute to charles messier's catalog
the galaxy is located roughly 27 million light years from earth and is about the same size as
the milky way it appears as a faint patch of light in small telescopes so if you're
wanting to see m63 in its full glory the best time to observe it is during the month of may
it looks like a sunflower right out of a van gogh painting as you can see the sunflower
galaxy consists of a central disk surrounded by short spiral arm segments of blue white stars
there is even a streamer of stars that loops at least halfway around the galaxy it's about 10
000 light years wide and it contains hundreds of millions of stars enough to make a small galaxy
number 5 sleeping beauty galaxy the next galaxy in our list happens to be relatively isolated
about 17 million light years away and is home to approximately 100 billion stars
edward pigots discovered the enigmatic black eye galaxy in march of 1779 a dark bend of
absorbing dust partially in front of its bright nucleus gave rise to its nicknames of the black
eye the evil eye or sleeping beauty galaxy this makes it sound dreamy and a little scary all at
the same time this magnificent galaxy is rife with creation as indicated by its reddish color
red means an abundance of hydrogen which in turn means stars are being formed
strangely though the stars and gas and the reddish portion are rotating one way
while its immense cloud of gas and dust is rotating the other while this is very bizarre
it is thought to be the result of a galactic collision number four the dead disc galaxy
weighing in at about three times heavier than our own milky way the dead disc galaxy is heavy
but only half the size the stars in it rotate in circles around the center of the galaxy at
a speed of over 500 kilometers per second which is more than twice as fast as stars in the milky way
max 2129-1 is an early universe dead disk galaxy discovered with the hubble space telescope by nasa
the place known as max 2129-1 is a galaxy that stands out for many reasons but more so for the
fact that it is known as a no-life galaxy though technically there is life in the form of stars
and planets within it the galaxy is no longer active meaning that it's not making stars anymore
this galaxy has caught the attention of many scientists and astronomers
as it has brought in some new insights into old dead disc galaxies causing them
to rethink how galaxies burn out early on the fact that even a massive galaxy could
burn out is actually quite a comforting thought we are not alone after all
number three cygnus a cygnus a is a radio galaxy in one of the strongest radio sources in the sky
groot rayber was the one who discovered it in 1939 nearly 600 million light years away this galaxy is
a giant among the giants of the universe with a mass estimated to be about 100 trillion times
that of the sun unfortunately cygnus a merged with another galaxy that passed too close as a result
the radio power coming from cygnus a exceeds the total electromagnetic output of over 2 trillion
stars which is not surprising in and of itself because it contains enough mass for 100 trillion
however this huge output is phenomenal because it comes from two separate clouds on either side of
the galaxy these clouds are made of a hot plasma of electrons that move across magnetic fields at
nearly the speed of light these clouds are thought to have been created and replenished by jets of
relativistic plasma ejected by the galactic cores scientists are still trying to unravel what causes
this unusual ejection however current theories suggest that there are gigantic billion solar mass
black holes at the core of these galaxies number two the southern pinwheel nicolas louis de la
calle discovered this galaxy on february 23 1752 and it has been studied by astronomers ever since
it comes as no surprise as m83 happens to be one of the most beautiful galaxies in the universe
but what makes it so special you ask well there is a large number of supernova explosions constantly
happening within it not only does it sound cool it's the reason why m83 gets so much attention
currently there are eight active supernovas under observation but the remains of hundreds
more have been studied the cause of the massive amount of supernovas remains a mystery but what
astronomers are more focused on is the huge number of active star-forming regions usually identified
in photos as pink the pink color is a result of the enormous amount of uv lighting generated by
millions of new stars that act on surrounding clouds of dust and gas these phenomenons
have led to unusual formations which give the galaxy m83 its nickname the southern pinwheel
number one the andromeda galaxy the andromeda galaxy is the closest large galaxy to the
milky way and is one of a few galaxies that can be seen unaided from the earth
so you could say that there are neighbors but trust me when i say this it's not really the
kind of neighbor you want according to astronomers and scientists andromeda is a galactic cannibal
who has been devouring other galaxies for eons and while that sounds impressive
let's just hope our cannibal neighbor isn't in the mood for a milky way also
in approximately 4.5 billion years the andromeda galaxy and the milky way are expected to collide
resulting in a giant elliptical galaxy in addition andromeda is accompanied by 14 dwarf galaxies
and at least 450 globular clusters are currently orbiting in and around the andromeda galaxy
some of them are in fact among the most densely populated globulars ever seen the andromeda galaxy
is fascinating and beautiful but definitely holds the reputation of being one of the most brutal
galactic cannibals of the universe so what do you think do you know of any other strange galaxies
let us know in the comments and as always thanks for watching fact nominal