Galaxies with ‘hoop skirts’ are more common than we thought

PHOENIX —Thousands of newly spotted galaxies are dressed for a Victorian ball: in hoop skirts. The cache of “polar structure galaxies” — with large starry or dusty structures oriented perpendicular to their main body — might help astronomers study how galaxies form and evolve.

“[Polar structure galaxies] are relatively rare in the universe,” said astronomer Jacob Guerrette in a January 5 news conference at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Most galaxies keep their stars and gas fairly in line with their main disks. Although astronomers have sighted polar structure galaxies since the 1970s, only a few hundred were known as of 2024.