Stacy McGaugh facts for kids

Stacy McGaugh was born on January 11, 1964. He is an American astronomer and a professor. He teaches in the Astronomy Department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Professor McGaugh studies many interesting things in space. He looks at galaxies that are very dim, how galaxies form and change, and ways to test ideas about dark matter. He also explores other theories like MOND, which is an alternative to dark matter.

Stacy McGaugh's Journey in Science

Stacy McGaugh went to the MIT for his first degree, finishing in 1985. He then continued his studies at Princeton and the University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. in 1992.

After getting his Ph.D., he worked as a researcher at several places. These included Cambridge University, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Rutgers University. In 1998, he became a professor at the University of Maryland. Later, in 2012, he moved to Case Western Reserve University.

What Does Stacy McGaugh Study?

Professor McGaugh is well-known in the field of extragalactic astronomy. This is the study of galaxies beyond our own. He did early work on Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (LSB galaxies). These are galaxies that are very faint and hard to see.

He also studied the elements found in bright gas clouds called HII Regions. These regions are where new stars are born.

Galaxies and Dark Matter

Stacy McGaugh has made important discoveries about how galaxies move. He was one of the first to notice that LSB galaxies are mostly made of dark matter. Dark matter is a mysterious substance that we can't see, but it seems to make up a lot of the universe.

He also talked about the "cuspy halo problem." This is a puzzle about how dark matter is spread out in the center of galaxies. He also came up with the term "baryonic Tully–Fisher relation." This is a rule that connects how bright a galaxy is to how fast it spins.

Exploring Alternative Theories

Professor McGaugh found some surprising evidence that supports a theory called Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). This idea was suggested by Mordehai Milgrom. MOND is an alternative to dark matter. It suggests that gravity works differently on very large scales.

This idea is quite controversial. It means that the invisible, non-baryonic dark matter, which is a big part of how scientists understand the universe, might not exist.

Despite the debate, many of his predictions have been proven right. For example, his ideas about how mass is spread in our own Milky Way galaxy have been confirmed. Also, his predictions about the speeds of small dwarf galaxies orbiting the Andromeda galaxy have been largely correct.

New Discoveries in Galaxy Rotation

In 2016, Professor McGaugh and his colleagues, Lelli and Schombert, found something interesting. They discovered a link between how fast galaxies spin and a special "radial acceleration relation" (RAR). This RAR is connected to the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation.

Scientists like Paranjape and Sheth believe this RAR finding is very important. It could change how we understand the standard model of the universe, called ΛCDM, and other theories about gravity.

See also

• Low Surface Brightness Galaxies
• Dark matter
• Modified Newtonian dynamics