Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On the other end of the spectrum from settled ordered spiral galaxies, are elliptical galaxies. These are some of the most massive galaxies in the entire Universe, and they are just giant blobs of stars. No flat disc shape, no spiral structure, just a sphere of stars.
They’re rarer than spiral galaxies, and crucially these aren’t spinning, or at least they’re not spinning very much. The stars are still orbiting around the centre of the galaxy, but in all different planes and directions. It’s like a swarm of bees in there. There’s no order to it, and the galaxy as a whole is no longer spinning. And we think that’s due to repeated galaxy mergers over billions of years. The effects of a single galaxy merger can take over a billion years to be fully seen in simulations, to slowly strip that spin away and scramble everything up to give you that blob shape.
#astrophysics
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com
Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst
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📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
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🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive
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🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
drbecky.uk.com
On the other end of the spectrum from settled ordered spiral galaxies, are elliptical galaxies. These are some of the most massive galaxies in the entire Universe, and they are just giant blobs of stars. No flat disc shape, no spiral structure, just a sphere of stars.
They’re rarer than spiral galaxies, and crucially these aren’t spinning, or at least they’re not spinning very much. The stars are still orbiting around the centre of the galaxy, but in all different planes and directions. It’s like a swarm of bees in there. There’s no order to it, and the galaxy as a whole is no longer spinning. And we think that’s due to repeated galaxy mergers over billions of years. The effects of a single galaxy merger can take over a billion years to be fully seen in simulations, to slowly strip that spin away and scramble everything up to give you that blob shape.
#astrophysics
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com
Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst
---
📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
---
🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive
---
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
drbecky.uk.com
