New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc.

SpaceNut · 2005-08-16 19:32:37

Elegant, words can not do justice.

Now if one draws a line from our sun in the direction that our whole system is moving, my guess that we are headed to continue the line up at that end closest to us.

Palomar · 2005-08-18 05:56:07

Update on Supernova 1987A

*I've posted some info on this supernova previously. The update also includes a timelapse movie (link at bottom of article).

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-18 09:41:54

NGC 1275's unusual gas filaments

*Is the central dominant galaxy of the Perseus Cluster, 230 million l/y away; it spans aprox 100,000 l/y in diameter. Other members of the Perseus Cluster are seen in the pic.

In visible light NGC 1275 seems to have the appearance of two collided galaxies. Bright X-rays are being emitted.

The unusual gas filaments are shown above in a very specific color of light emitted by hydrogen, here artificially colored pink.

Two possible causes for these filaments are briefly mentioned (speculation) in the caption.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-23 07:23:58

Dissolving?

*The article concerns NGC 6712, a globular cluster possessing roughly 1 million stars. It and GC's like it are thought to be losing their fainter and less massive stars to the Galatic Halo. GC's are thought, on average, to be 12 to 14 billion years old.

...results offer strong evidence for gravitational stripping of stars from clusters which pass through the plane and central regions of the Galaxy. One of about 150 globular clusters known to be members of the Milky Way, NGC 6712 is thought to have crossed through the crowded galactic plane only a few million years ago

NGC 6712 is approximately 23,000 l/y distant "in" the southern constellation of Scutum.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-24 06:01:30

Dazzling

*Where has this photo been all my life?? That is gorgeous.

Is NGC 281. It's aprox 10,000 l/y distant "in" Cassiopeia. It's a hotbed of star formation. A small open cluster of stars resides near its center (these stars are "only" a few millions of years old; rather young), named IC 1590. The brightest within the cluster is a multiple star system. Lots of gas and dust lanes, and Bok globules.

A different photo

I prefer the first pic; "close-ups" are usually better.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-25 05:45:21

The Stars of NGC 300

*This is a photo of the inner region of NGC 300, a large spiral galaxy of the Sculptor Group; the frame spans 7,000 l/y. It is aprox 6.5 million l/y distant. Individual stars are distinguished, thanks to HST's ACS. Densely packed galactic core and dark dust lanes as well.

Looks like softly glowing, finely crushed diamonds.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-25 13:25:56

Blue Splendor

*Lovely.

Is NGC 206 and not of our galaxy; it's embedded with the Andromeda Galaxy. The bright blue stars are young stars, of course. This is one of the largest star-forming regions in the local group of galaxies.

Astronomers are searching this area for Cepheid variables and eclipsing binary systems.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-26 05:46:04

AE Aqr

*Amateur astronomers are being asked by the pro's to assist in an intensive observation of this binary system referred to as a "magnetic propeller." Is also referred to as "intermediate polar, a type of cataclysmic variable."

It's an uncommon setup but not unique: AE Aqr ("in" the constellation Aquarius) is comprised of a red dwarf and a swiftly spinning magnetic white dwarf.

Material from the red dwarf falls towards the white. This material cannot land on the white dwarf as it's flung away instead by the spinning magnetic field.

As the pro's go:

The Chandra and GALEX space telescopes will be working with the HESS, MAGIC, VLT, and VLA ground-based telescopes.

The role amateurs can play:

amateur astronomers have been asked to help cover the visible-light portion.
"This observing campaign will take place over nearly a full day, and since no single ground-based observatory can observe AE Aqr for that long due to Earth's rotation, amateur astronomers can make a unique and invaluable contribution to this campaign"

This will occur on August 30 - 31. Sounds great. Article says amateurs have been observing AE Aqr since 1944. Good luck to all involved.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-26 10:17:36

A glimpse into our future

*Scientists are speculating this is what the collision of our Milky Way Galaxy with the Andromeda Galaxy will look like. Yep, we and M31 are heading straight for one another and in aprox 5 billion years...

The photo is of two galaxies colliding "in" the constellation Pisces. It's been designated as NGC 520 and is 100 million l/y distant.

"...it's amazing to see so far in advance how planet Earth and our own galaxy will ultimately end. Glad to say I won't be around when the fireball happens."

Party pooper.

Of course this photo is looking back in time:

The image of the combined galaxies, which are known as NGC 520, may be fairly early in their galactic dance of death and it is likely that the situation has changed dramatically in the time it has taken for their light to reach Earth*.
Prof. Robson added, "Hints of new star formation taking place can be seen in the faint red glowing areas above and beneath the middle of the image. Perhaps even now the galaxies have totally combined to form a whole new galaxy with a brand new set of stars and associated planets

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-29 17:52:49

*A one-armed galaxy?

NGC 4725

This is a false-color image and is actually a 4-image compilation. The galaxy is "towards" the constellation Coma Berenices, aprox 41 million l/y distant. Image released August 25.

Red indicates warm dust clouds lit by new starlight.
Blue areas are indicative of older stellar populations.

NGC 4725 is being classed as (get this): A ringed, barred spiral galaxy. I don't recall such an intricate classing before of any galaxy.

Here it is in regular light. Exquisite

Frankly, I think the Spitzer infrared image makes it look sort of like a gigantic Oroborous.

--Cindy

DonPanic · 2005-08-30 11:21:48

LO
interesting news about the galaxy antimatter
http://dphs10.saclay.cea.fr/Sap/Actuali … 506026.pdf

And this: Rubble-Pile Minor Planet Sylvia and Her Twins
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/p … 21-05.html

srmeaney · 2005-08-30 17:19:16

Scientists have just found an unusual hotspot on one of Saturns moons.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp … moon_x.htm

Palomar · 2005-08-31 05:09:58

And this: Rubble-Pile Minor Planet Sylvia and Her Twins
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/p … 21-05.html

*Hi DonPanic. Yes, a wonderful new discovery. Scientists have known since 2001 that Sylvia had 1 moon...now 2 of them. Scientists remain on the lookout for more multiple asteroid systems, which are sometimes referred to as micro "solar systems" in their own right. Endlessly fascinating universe, huh?

Here's the first asteroid with a moon discovery: Ida & Dactyl

And yet another:

Eugenia & Moon A nice animation.

srmeaney:

Scientists have just found an unusual hotspot on one of Saturns moons

Enceladus is, alongside of Titan, the most intriguing moon in the Saturnian system. If you'd prefer, we have been following the Cassini-Huygens mission in this thread.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-01 10:53:07

Galaxies: Old vs New

*Concerns galactic "downsizing." In this study, 4000 elliptical and lenticular galaxies were observed in 93 nearby galaxy clusters. Scientists have found that the largest and brightest galaxies are composed nearly entirely by very old stars 13+ billion years old. Those galaxies also show little to zero new star formation nor evidence of recent collision/ingestion of a different galaxy.

The fainter galaxies are, oddly enough, populated by younger stars roughly 4 billion years old.

The term 'downsizing' essentially means that when the Universe was young, the star formation activity occurred in large galaxies, but as the Universe aged, the 'action' stopped in the larger galaxies, even as it continued in smaller galaxies

"Although we cannot directly see these galaxies as they were in the past, their stars are a kind of 'fossil record' that can be used to unearth their histories," Hudson explains. "It appears that the older galaxies are much less of a 'melting pot' than had been thought, and that their star formation activity turned off somehow while they were being put together..."

That's interesting...in more ways than one.

"The evolutionary history of elliptical galaxies and lenticular galaxies (which have a central bulge and a disk, but no evidence of spiral arms) is not well understood. Their colors appear to be redder than typical spiral galaxies...
"These so-called red galaxies contain the bulk of the stellar mass in the nearby universe, but we know little about their formation and evolution..."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-02 05:05:40

NGC 6530

*This is a star cluster of 50 to 100 members, residing within the Lagoon Nebula (M8 "in" Sagittarius). They formed the gas clouds therein aprox 2 million years ago. About 5,000 l/y distant. This is one of the first images returned by SALT (new -- South Africa) [of course other observatories have returned photos of this stellar region before, years ago].

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-02 05:59:46

Beautiful Neptune

*They've used HST to create a movie of Neptune's atmosphere. Unfortunately the article doesn't include a link to the movie! Maybe it isn't yet being released to the public. It's a time-lapse movie obtained April 29 to 30, images taken every 4 to 5 hours and therefore spaced roughly 1/4 of Neptune's rotational time. 14 different filters were utilized in the process.

Articles gives a brief rundown on Neptune facts. Includes snapshots from the movie. Hopefully we'll get to see the movie -- if anyone finds it, please post it.

--Cindy

P.S.: The orbital motions of Neptune's moons are apparently also in the movie. Wish they'd quit teasing us and show us.

SpaceNut · 2005-09-02 06:30:50

Planetary society page has the movie link, as well as some other images on this page:

The Hubble Space Telescope Makes a Movie Star Out of Neptune

Palomar · 2005-09-02 09:26:42

Planetary society page has the movie link, as well as some other images on this page:
The Hubble Space Telescope Makes a Movie Star Out of Neptune

*Thanks SpaceNut. It won't download for me. Will try on the other computer once it's fixed. But I'm glad someone found the link so others can download and enjoy it. It'll eventually work for me too.

Perhaps a different web site will host it downloadable in a different format or will host the image already playing. Will be on the lookout.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-03 11:36:20

X-ray portrait of Trumpler 14

*It's a star cluster aprox 9000 l/y distant (in the Carina complex), containing one of the galaxy's highest concentrations of young (1 million years old) massive stars which in a few million more years will go supernova. The image spans 40 l/y.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-03 20:47:44

Rho Region -- Scorpius

*Obtained May 8 at Gila, NM by C. Cook. Lovely.

Looks like a multicolored butterfly with huge stardust wings.

--Cindy :-)

Palomar · 2005-09-05 15:18:00

Evidence: Some comets may have become asteroids

*Doesn't surprise me. Short article. Spitzer utilized in this study.

"Several objects classified as asteroids have orbits that are dynamically similar to those of comets"

"The suggestion that some asteroids originated as comets has been made before, but the new Spitzer Space Telescope observations provide the first chance to really test this suggestion," Emery noted. "Most of the objects observed in our program appear to be typical asteroids, but a few have surface compositions and textures that are more similar to comets," Emery added.

That's peachy.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-07 13:47:35

Stellar Dragon

*Guess it looks like a dragon. ? I sometimes don't understand the apparent "drive" on the part of others to constantly "identify" cosmic objects with objects familiar to us. Why not simply appreciate the majesty for its own sake?

Is NGC 6559. Aprox 5,000 l/y from Earth "in" the constellation Sagittarius, lying towards the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The "Dragon" is only a portion of a larger star-forming region. Four composite images created this image. The dark dust lanes which make up the "Dragon" span 7 light years (diagonally).

Pretty.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-09-07 19:57:03

Evidence: Some comets may have become asteroids

Then you get the other side with Ceres Largest Asteroid Might Contain More Fresh Water than Earth

Astronomers took 267 images of asteroid Ceres using the Hubble Space Telescope. From these images and subsequent computer simulations, they suggest Ceres may have a rocky inner core and a thin, dusty outer crust.

Can you spell fuel and resources for mars colonization...

SpaceNut · 2005-09-08 11:25:56

Hold the news update presses, scienctist in a quandary. Is Ceres a Planet? Recently taken Hubble pictures as mentioned before reason some interesting questions as to what is a planet and how big must it be.
Astronomers claim asteroid 'too large'

Close inspection of the largest known asteroid has found that it may actually be a mini planet.

Palomar · 2005-09-08 11:36:17

Hold the news update presses, scienctist in a quandary. Is Ceres a Planet? Recently taken Hubble pictures as mentioned before reason some interesting questions as to what is a planet and how big must it be.
Astronomers claim asteroid 'too large'
Close inspection of the largest known asteroid has found that it may actually be a mini planet.

*Ceres certainly is making quite a splash in the current headlines. It's also bright enough to be seen with binoculars.

--Cindy

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#76 2005-08-16 19:32:37

Re: New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc.

#77 2005-08-18 05:56:07

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#92 2005-09-02 06:30:50

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