Myth vs Reality: Understanding How Galaxies Change

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 This short video addresses the misconception that we have no idea how galaxies evolve over time.

Light and Distance
 
 
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach
 
All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:
 
·       Illustration of radiation from everyday objects courtesy of STScI
·       Illustration of electromagnetic waves courtesy of STScI
·       Photo of crepuscular rays courtesy of Wikimedia user Fir0002/Flagstaffotos
·       Photo of snake courtesy of Mark Mannetti
·       Infrared image of a mouse courtesy of Julius Lab, UCSF
·       Photo of snow geese and the Moon courtesy of Brocken Inaglory
·       James Webb Space Telescope illustrations by STScI/G. Bacon
·       Ariane 5 rocket launch image ©2008 ESA – CNES – Arianespace/Photo by Optique Video CSG
·       James Webb Space Telescope animation by STScI/G. Bacon
·       Animation of traveling light pulses courtesy of Footage Island
·       Alpha Centauri animation courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)
·       Andromeda Galaxy image courtesy of ESA/Hubble & Digitized Sky Survey 2; acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
·       Illustration of galaxies at different distances by STScI/A. Field
·       Cosmic redshift animation courtesy of ESO
·       Simulated JWST galaxy field image courtesy of STScI
·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
 
Written by Tracy Vogel
Designed by Marc Lussier 
Music courtesy of Associated Production Music
 
 

(SPEECH) 
 [ELECTRONIC MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of galaxies. 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY 

Myth side 

Text, We can't watch galaxies change, so we can't understand how they evolve over time. 

Reality side 

Text, Most galaxy changes are too slow for us to observe in real time. But because the light from other galaxies must travel great distances to reach us, we can observe multiple galaxies at different stages of development, depending on how far away they reside. Observing many different galaxies at different stages allows us to infer how a single galaxy can change over time.