UGC 12591: The Fastest Rotating Galaxy Known
Explanation:
Why does this galaxy spin so fast?
To start, even identifying which type of galaxy
UGC 12591 is difficult
-- featured on the lower left, it has dark dust lanes like a spiral galaxy but a
large diffuse bulge of stars like a
lenticular.
Surprisingly observations show that
UGC 12591
spins at about 480 km/sec, almost twice as fast as our
Milky Way, and the fastest rotation rate yet measured.
The mass needed to hold together a
galaxy spinning this fast is several times the mass of our
Milky Way Galaxy.
Progenitor scenarios for
UGC 12591 include
slow growth by accreting ambient matter,
or rapid growth through a recent
galaxy collision or
collisions --
future observations may tell.
The light we see today from UGC 12591 left about
400 million years ago, when
trees were first developing on
Earth.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
