Red Giant Galaxies

            So we have all heard of the way a star is born and the many phases it can take.  Some go from blue to yellow, to red, to black; while others go to red, to white or brown.  To an average person this language seems like silly talk.  To astronomers, you understand that these different color coatings are sun stages from blue stars to dying Red Giants; to Black dwarfs/Holes or White/Brown Dwarfs.  But has anyone ever seen a Red Galaxy as dying?

            A survey conducted at the ALMA Observatory showed that as a galaxy nears its end, it turns red and becomes elliptical, unlike stars that become Red Giants.  However, they explain that the reason these galaxies have entered this stage of life is due to the fact that their supermassive Black Holes.  They appear to be eating away all the star dust used to form new stars and cause the galaxies to starve for star dust.

Makes you wonder, how long has the Milky Way been starving of our nutrients?

More on this story at: http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2012/almastarvinggalaxies/