The larger the spiral galaxy, the faster it spins. That’s a well-known fact for astronomers. But a few years ago, researchers discovered a new class of jumbo-sized spiral galaxies; astronomers call them “super spirals.”
And, in a surprise find published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers now say that these super spirals are actually rotating even faster than predicted based on the visible sizes of the galaxies. The fastest of these super spirals whips some of its stars around at up to 350 miles per second. By some estimates, that’s nearly three times as fast as our sun circles the galaxy.
This means these gargantuan galaxies have higher dark matter to visible matter ratios than smaller spirals, like the Milky Way, to account for the extra rotation speed. The finding also suggests something else: a maximum size for how big a spiral galaxy can get.
Astronomer Patrick Ogle was looking ...
