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Zooming in on the Most Massive Galaxies Ever Discovered (A Galaxy Insight)



Hubble Massive Galaxies
The biggest things in the universe are invisible (but that doesn't
matter, because if your wimpy human eye was even out there to see them
it would be too busy freezing, suffocating, or freaking out over how
far away from home it is anyway).  Scientists have used a super-network
of the world's most awesome observatories to look at the most massive
galaxies ever among the trillion galaxies estimated to exist . These megamassive star collections are so far away that their light
has been shifted out of the visible spectrum, just by the doppler
effect of the expanding universe.  

In an awesome Voltron-like
combination, which is presumably also keeping its incredibly eye out
for Galactus, the ESA's XMM X-Ray Observatory hooked up with NASA's
Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer satellites to create a super-sensor survey
able to observe the immense galaxies.


Image of the Day: 3-D Video of an Exploding Supernova

Measurements of supernova rates in other galaxies have led scientists to conclude that at least three supernovae should erupt in the Milky Way galaxy per century.

At least one supernova has been found, the ghostly remnant Cassiopeia A, which is likely to have occurred around the year 1680. The supernova occurred approximately 11,000 light years away within the Milky Way galaxy, in the Cassiopeia constellation.

A supernova remnant near the center of the Milky Way though has recently added to the list of remnants within our galaxy, and has taken the place of youngest known remnant in our galaxy. Known as G1.9+0.3, the remnant lies about 28,000 light years away, and was first identified as a ring-like supernova remnant in the early 80’s.

More recently though, observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array in New Mexico have shown that the diameter of the remnant – akin to a glowing gas shell – has expanded by 16% over the past 22 years.

From this, and assuming that the speed of expansion is roughly constant, that makes the remnant approximately 140 years old.

The supernova would not have been visibly to astronomers back then however, given that it occurred in dense gas and dust towards the galactic center. "The best telescopes at that time would not have been able to collect enough light to see it," says Stephen Reynolds of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who led the Chandra study and revealed the results this week.


Image of the Day: 3-D Video of an Exploding Supernova

Measurements of supernova rates in other galaxies have led scientists to conclude that at least three supernovae should erupt in the Milky Way galaxy per century.

At least one supernova has been found, the ghostly remnant Cassiopeia A, which is likely to have occurred around the year 1680. The supernova occurred approximately 11,000 light years away within the Milky Way galaxy, in the Cassiopeia constellation.

A supernova remnant near the center of the Milky Way though has recently added to the list of remnants within our galaxy, and has taken the place of youngest known remnant in our galaxy.


UN atomic agency to rush mobile X-ray units to Haiti

The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is planning to rush mobile X-ray units to Haiti in a bid to reach some of the 250,000 people injured in the catastrophic Haitian earthquake earlier this month.


Image of the Day - A Mysterious Dark Matter Galaxy

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NASA Astronomers have dubbed mysterious NGC 1132 a "fossil group" because it contains an enormous amount of dark matter, comparable to the dark matter found in an entire group of galaxies. Also, the large amount of hot gas detected by Chandra is usually found for groups of galaxies, rather than a single galaxy. 

The origin of such fossil-group systems remains a puzzle. They may be the end products of the complete merging of groups of galaxies. Or, they may be very rare objects that formed in a region or period of time where the growth of moderate-sized galaxies was somehow suppressed, and only one large galaxy formed. 

This image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1132 and its surrounding region combines data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The blue/purple in the image is the x-ray glow from hot, diffuse gas detected by Chandra. Hubble's data reveal a giant foreground elliptical galaxy, plus numerous dwarf galaxies in its neighborhood, and many much more distant galaxies in the background. 


Image of the Day - A Mysterious Dark Matter Galaxy

210356main_image_1012_946-710
 

NASA Astronomers have dubbed mysterious NGC 1132 a "fossil group" because it contains an enormous amount of dark matter, comparable to the dark matter found in an entire group of galaxies. Also, the large amount of hot gas detected by Chandra is usually found for groups of galaxies, rather than a single galaxy. 

The origin of such fossil-group systems remains a puzzle. They may be the end products of the complete merging of groups of galaxies. Or, they may be very rare objects that formed in a region or period of time where the growth of moderate-sized galaxies was somehow suppressed, and only one large galaxy formed. 

This image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1132 and its surrounding region combines data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The blue/purple in the image is the x-ray glow from hot, diffuse gas detected by Chandra. Hubble's data reveal a giant foreground elliptical galaxy, plus numerous dwarf galaxies in its neighborhood, and many much more distant galaxies in the background. 


Images reveal spectacular X-ray tails

Michigan State University astronomer Megan Donahue uses words such as "cool" and "interesting" to describe the two distinct "tails" found on a long tail of gas that is believed to be forming stars where few stars have been formed before.


Scientists using X-ray vision to produce more nutritious flour

Pioneering research combining plant breeding and high-intensity x-rays is being used by scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to explore the possibility of developing wheat which could be used to make potentially life-saving mineral enriched flour. The research is highlighted in the latest issue of Business, the quarterly highlights magazine of BBSRC.


Clues to the Fate of the Universe? The 'Great Wall' & Clustered Beauty of Hydra A

6a00d8341bf7f753ef012876f12011970c-500wi A stunningly beautiful galaxy cluster 840 million light years from Earth gets its name from the strong radio source, Hydra A, that originates in a galaxy near the center of the cluster. Optical observations show a few hundred galaxies in the cluster. Chandra Space Observatory X-ray observations reveal a large cloud of hot gas that extends throughout the cluster.The gas cloud is several million light years across and has a temperature of about 40 million degrees in the outer parts decreasing to about 35 million degrees in the inner region.  Also a bright white wedge of hot multimillion degree Celsius gas is seen pushing into the heart of the cluster. As the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe, galaxy clusters provide crucial clues for understanding the origin and fate of the universe.

The cluster gets its name from the strong radio source, Hydra A, that originates in a galaxy near the center of the cluster. Optical observations show a few hundred galaxies in the cluster. Chandra X-ray observations reveal a large cloud of hot gas that extends throughout the cluster. 

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