ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Faber–Jackson relation

Alright kiddo, let me explain to you what the Faber-Jackson relation is.

You know how stars are all different sizes and temperatures, right? Well, scientists like to study them and see if they can find patterns. One thing they noticed is that bigger stars tend to be brighter than smaller ones. This seems kind of obvious, right?

But the Faber-Jackson relation goes a step further by looking at a specific type of star - galaxies. Galaxies are like big groups of stars all clumped together, and they come in different sizes too.

Scientists noticed that for galaxies of similar size, there's actually a relationship between how bright they are and how fast the stars in the galaxy are moving around. It's like they're all connected!

So, the Faber-Jackson relation is a way for scientists to predict how big and bright a galaxy is just by measuring how fast the stars in it are moving around. And why is this important? Well, it helps us understand more about how galaxies form and evolve over time.

So there you have it, a simple explanation of the Faber-Jackson relation - it's a way for scientists to figure out how bright and big a galaxy is just by looking at how fast the stars inside of it are moving around.