Elliptical galaxies not formed by merging
Using an "intuitive" approach, a new study confirms a recent hypothesis on the formation of galaxies, according to which the larger elliptical galaxies formed in very ancient times through a process of local (in situ) star formation. This contradicts the current paradigm that they formed through the merging of spiral galaxies, a view which, despite being generally accepted by most of the scientific community, has been a source of theoretical inconsistencies. The study supports the in situ hypothesis, already proposed with theoretical models, basing itself only on the analysis and interpolation of new data collected by the Herschel instrument (in the infrared) integrated with Hubble data (in the ultraviolet), an innovative yet simple method.