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Asked by anon-197491 to Sonal, Rosanna, Matthew, Marleen, Dan, Atreya on 12 Mar 2019.
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Marleen Wilde answered on 12 Mar 2019:
Never thought about that one really. I suppose if something can just be created or be born, it should be possible that it dies or implodes too? I guess Rosanna might know more about this topic.
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Matthew Selwood answered on 12 Mar 2019:
I assume so? Stars can die, and then the planets around them would change orbit because the of the change in mass where the star was… So my logic stands to reason that it is plausible? Rosanna may completely prove me wrong though, as she is far more of an authority than me!
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Rosanna Tilbrook answered on 13 Mar 2019: last edited 13 Mar 2019 11:00 am
Just seen the replies from the other scientists- they’re right, galaxies can ‘die’! This happens through galaxy mergers, which is when galaxies smash into each other- it happens over millions of years though, as galaxies are so huge. These collisions strip the galaxies of their dust and gas, which are the materials for creating new stars. So, the result of the merger is a big blob of old stars, with a supermassive black hole at the centre (when the galaxies collide, their black holes do too)! This is, technically, a new galaxy called an elliptical galaxy- they’re not lovely spirals like our own Milky Way- but we call them ‘red and dead’ as all their stars are old (old stars are red) and will eventually die.
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An excellent question by the way!
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