Merging galaxies and fluctuations in star population were reported by astronomers at the University of California at Santa Cruz's Keck Telescope. Employing Keck's low-resolution imaging spectrograph along with the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists studied the evolution of 24 galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field and used the collected spectra to determine the distances to roughly half of the galaxies. The report concluded that the galaxies did not grow uniformly, but may have merged or faded into smaller "dwarf" galaxies, and that observations of stars' atmospheres illustrate many generations of star birth and death. The team presented its findings at the recent American Astronomical Society meeting in Toronto.