Starship Asterisk*

starsurfer wrote:

Ann wrote:The shape, luminosity distribution and color of M51 is fairly unusual. It is no coincidence that M51 was the first galaxy that was found to be spiral in shape.

When a galaxy has such well-formed, bright and blue arms, it is no surprise that the galaxy has been affected by tidal forces for a long time and, presumably, has undergone repeated episodes of high-mass star formation. Then it is no wonder that it has formed a lot of black holes and neutron stars, either.

On the other hand, the star forming days of NGC 5195 are long past. Most likely it did form a lot of stars when it first interacted with M51, and black hole remnants of those once mighty blue stars now pump out X-rays from all over the luminous bulge and beyond from this small yellow galaxy.

Ann

One of the reasons that M51 was one of the first galaxies where spiral structure was detected is also due to its brightness.

Ann wrote:The shape, luminosity distribution and color of M51 is fairly unusual. It is no coincidence that M51 was the first galaxy that was found to be spiral in shape.

When a galaxy has such well-formed, bright and blue arms, it is no surprise that the galaxy has been affected by tidal forces for a long time and, presumably, has undergone repeated episodes of high-mass star formation. Then it is no wonder that it has formed a lot of black holes and neutron stars, either.

On the other hand, the star forming days of NGC 5195 are long past. Most likely it did form a lot of stars when it first interacted with M51, and black hole remnants of those once mighty blue stars now pump out X-rays from all over the luminous bulge and beyond from this small yellow galaxy.

Ann

geckzilla wrote:I had an English teacher who insisted it was wrong to use people as the plural form of person.

geckzilla wrote:I had an English teacher who insisted it was wrong to use people as the plural form of person.

Nitpicker wrote:

APOD Robot wrote:
Hundreds of glittering x-ray stars are present in the above Chandra image of the spiral and its neighbor.

I take it that these x-rays glitter and not twinkle, because they are absorbed by the atmosphere. Or maybe the editors just have a soft spot for these soft x-rays. I can't imagine hard x-rays being described as glittering. Or perhaps I'm just not romantic enough.

• 1. To shine; to cast light.
  2. To flash; to spread a flood of light.
  3. Among falconers, to disgorge filth, as a hawk.

• 1. To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam; as, a glittering sword.
  
  2. To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive; as, the glittering scenes of a court.

• 1. To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink.
  • The owl fell a moping and twinkling. L' Estrange.
  2. To shine with an intermitted or a broken, quavering light; to flash at intervals; to sparkle; to scintillate.
  • These stars [do] not twinkle when viewed through telescopes that have large apertures. Sir I. Newton.

Nitpicker wrote:Great APOD.

I nearly missed the hover image of visible light, though. I was scouring the links before I thought to hover over the image.

APOD Robot wrote:Hundreds of glittering x-ray stars are present in the above Chandra image of the spiral and its neighbor.

bystander wrote:

geckzilla wrote:I had an English teacher who insisted it was wrong to use people as the plural form of person.

To me, people is more of a collective noun, while persons indicates a group of individual entities.

geckzilla wrote:I had an English teacher who insisted it was wrong to use people as the plural form of person.

geckzilla wrote:Except for persons using their screens in vertical format.