New Scientist: Astrophile
New Scientist: Astrophile
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Astrophile: Trio of dead stars could take on Einstein
Trio of dead stars could take on Einstein
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jacob Aron | 2014 Jan 06
Pulsar in a Stellar Triple System Makes Unique Gravitational Laboratory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2014 Jan 05
A millisecond pulsar in a stellar triple system - S. M. Ransom et al
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jacob Aron | 2014 Jan 06
Objects: A fast-pulsing star and two white dwarfs
Location: A rare triple-star system
The three friends had been through a lot over the years. One had an explosive personality that in the early days nearly drove the friends apart, but has since settled down to ticking away the time. The two others have a complicated relationship with the clock-watcher, one preferring to stick close by, while the other keeps its distance. Together, the trio are attempting to put Einstein to the test.
Systems composed of three ordinary stars are common throughout the galaxy. But because exotic stars like pulsars or white dwarfs form in violent explosions that often shove companions away, they tend to go it alone. But now astronomers have found the first example of a triple system containing only the strange corpses of burned-out stars, and they plan to use it to probe the nature of gravity. ...
Pulsar in a Stellar Triple System Makes Unique Gravitational Laboratory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2014 Jan 05
A millisecond pulsar in a stellar triple system - S. M. Ransom et al
- Nature 505(7484) 520 (23 Jan 2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature12917
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1401.0535 > 02 Jan 2014
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Astrophile: Binary stars that form like fraternal twins
Binary stars that form like fraternal twins
New Scientist | Astrophile | Rebecca Boyle | 2014 Jan 14
New Studies Give Strong Boost to Binary-Star Formation Theory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2013 Dec 31
VLA and CARMA Observations of Protostars in the Cepheus Clouds:
Sub-arcsecond Proto-Binaries Formed via Disk Fragmentation - John J. Tobin et al
New Scientist | Astrophile | Rebecca Boyle | 2014 Jan 14
Object: Binary stars[attachment=0]stars_4.jpg[/attachment]
Formation mechanism: In the same stellar nursery
Protostar CB230 IRS1 never let anyone forget that he was the older twin. Although he and his brother were born of the same swirling mass of gas and dust, IRS1 knew that he coalesced first. The second star in the binary duo formed after the spinning disc fragmented, and congealed into a smaller star. And like human fraternal twins, though they were born in the same environment, the pair will grow up to look very different. The bigger twin will die first, and if the pair stay close enough throughout their lives, it could even turn into a supernova.
Astronomers have debated how binary stars, which make up about half of all sun-like stars in the galaxy, form and grow up. Some argue binaries are like twins, whether identical – beginning their existence as one entity and dividing in two early on – or fraternal – both forming from scratch in the same proto-stellar disc. Others think they're more like lovers who found each other later in life, migrating across interstellar space until gravity joins them for good. ...
New Studies Give Strong Boost to Binary-Star Formation Theory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2013 Dec 31
VLA and CARMA Observations of Protostars in the Cepheus Clouds:
Sub-arcsecond Proto-Binaries Formed via Disk Fragmentation - John J. Tobin et al
- Astrophysical Journal 779(2) 93 (2013 Dec 20) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/93
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1310.5154 > 18 Oct 2013
- Attachments
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Astrophile: Giant flashlight illuminates cosmic network
Giant flashlight illuminates cosmic network
New Scientist | Astrophile | Lisa Grossman | 2014 Jan 19
Distant quasar illuminates a filament of the cosmic web
University of California, Santa Cruz | 2014 Jan 19
A cosmic web filament revealed in Lyman-alpha emission around a luminous high-redshift quasar - Sebastiano Cantalupo et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=32786
New Scientist | Astrophile | Lisa Grossman | 2014 Jan 19
Object: Ancient strand of gas and dark matter[attachment=0]First_Image_of_Cosmic_Web.png[/attachment]
Size: 2 million light years across
The cobwebby filaments that stretched between galaxies in the early universe have shown themselves for the first time. Light from the activity of a distant supermassive black hole is serving as a giant cosmic flashlight, illuminating an enormous strand of gas held together by invisible dark matter.
The geometry of large-scale cosmic structures helps us piece together the processes that formed the universe. Though this first glimpse mostly fits with existing models, there is one surprise that suggests some processes are currently missing in our understanding.
Theory and simulations of the evolution of the universe suggest that, as the universe cooled after the big bang, dark matter settled into a network of filaments that criss-crossed the cosmos. The greater gravity at points where these strands crossed drew in ordinary matter, which eventually grew dense enough to ignite stars and develop galaxies and galaxy clusters. ...
Distant quasar illuminates a filament of the cosmic web
University of California, Santa Cruz | 2014 Jan 19
A cosmic web filament revealed in Lyman-alpha emission around a luminous high-redshift quasar - Sebastiano Cantalupo et al
- Nature 506(7486) 63 (06 Feb 2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature12898
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1401.4469 > 17 Jan 2014
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=32786
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in clusters
Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in clusters
New Scientist | Astrophile | Lisa Grossman | 2014 Jan 28
Jellyfish: Evidence of extreme ram-pressure stripping in massive galaxy clusters - Harald Ebeling et al
New Scientist | Astrophile | Lisa Grossman | 2014 Jan 28
Object: Jellyfish galaxies[attachment=0]CometGalaxy.jpg[/attachment]
Habitat: Crowded clusters of cosmic blobs
The large spiral galaxy was tired of being alone. It had been ages since its last relationship with another galaxy, and they had enjoyed a long, slow dance in each other's orbit. When they finally merged, the spiral felt like it had done some serious growing, and it wanted even more social interaction. But it turns out that spiral galaxies need to change in a much more fundamental way if they want to move in with groups of friends.
A hunt through images from the Hubble Space Telescope has turned up half a dozen spiral galaxies that are being ripped apart and remade into jellyfish – with blobby bodies and glowing tendrils of stars – as they move towards joining galaxy clusters. It is thought that this process ultimately turns spirals into elliptical-shaped galaxies. That means the discovery, which more than doubles the number of known jellyfish galaxies, should help researchers better understand why such "ellipticals" are more common in clusters than their spiral cousins. ...
Jellyfish: Evidence of extreme ram-pressure stripping in massive galaxy clusters - Harald Ebeling et al
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 781(2) L40 (2014 Feb 01) DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/781/2/L40
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1312.6135 > 20 Dec 2013 (v1), 24 Jan 2014 (v2)
- Attachments
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
- MargaritaMc
- Look to the Evenstar
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Re: New Scientist: Astrophile
It's a very useful column and I often miss new items as they don't seem to be on a regular basis. So I'm very pleased you are posting these, bystander - MUCH appreciated!bystander wrote:I had been regularly posting the Astrophile columns, but I've fallen 6 or 7 months behind. I liked the column and I'm going to try to catch it up.
Margarita
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
— Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS
Astrophile: Wrinkles reveal Mercury's rapid slimming
Wrinkles reveal Mercury's rapid slimming
New Scientist | Astrophile | Marcus Woo | 2014 Mar 16
Mercury’s Contraction Much Greater Than Thought
Carnegie Institution for Science | 2014 Mar 18
The Incredible Shrinking Mercury
MESSENGER | JHU-APL | CIS | 2014 Mar 19
Mercury's global contraction much greater than earlier estimates - Paul K. Byrne et al
New Scientist | Astrophile | Marcus Woo | 2014 Mar 16
Object: Mercury's many wrinkles[attachment=0]mercury.jpg[/attachment]
Source: A cooling, crumpling crust
Mercury just wanted to look its best. As the years rolled by the planet was losing the fire of its youth, but it was also slimming down, shedding a few pesky kilometres from its round, rocky body. Then the wrinkles started to sprout…
When the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago, Mercury was a hot ball of molten material. The tiny planet cooled quickly, shrinking in size and causing its relatively thin crust to crumple up. The shrinking seems to have slowed down after about a billion years, but the grey, pockmarked world we see today is crisscrossed by steep crustal ridges that reveal the period of rapid contraction. ...
Mercury’s Contraction Much Greater Than Thought
Carnegie Institution for Science | 2014 Mar 18
The Incredible Shrinking Mercury
MESSENGER | JHU-APL | CIS | 2014 Mar 19
Mercury's global contraction much greater than earlier estimates - Paul K. Byrne et al
- Nature Geoscience 7(4) 301 (2014) DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2097
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Astrophile: Dizzy exoplanet has a compact 8-hour day
Dizzy exoplanet has a compact 8-hour day
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jacob Aron | 2014 Apr 30
Length of Exoplanet Day Measured for First Time
European Southern Observatory | VLT | 2014 Apr 30
Fast spin of the young extrasolar planet β Pictoris b - Ignas A. G. Snellen et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=33325
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jacob Aron | 2014 Apr 30
Object: Young gas giant
Rotation rate: 25 kilometres a second
Do you feel there is never enough time in a day? Then don't move to Beta Pictoris b. A day on this fast-paced exoplanet lasts just 8 hours, making it a poor choice for the temporally challenged. You would also be battling a dusty atmosphere, searing temperatures and a total lack of solid ground on this Jupiter-like gas giant.
Beta Pictoris b was discovered in 2008 orbiting a young star about 63 light years away. Astronomers think the planet is about 7 times as massive as Jupiter and is still glowing with the heat of its own formation, at a temperature of roughly 1600 kelvin. ...
Length of Exoplanet Day Measured for First Time
European Southern Observatory | VLT | 2014 Apr 30
Fast spin of the young extrasolar planet β Pictoris b - Ignas A. G. Snellen et al
- Nature 509(7498) 63 (01 May 2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature13253
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1404.7506 > 29 Apr 2014
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=33325
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
- geckzilla
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Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
Jellyfish galaxy is a delightful name for that phenomenon. Much better than Catherine wheel...
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.
Astrophile: Big blue star is an X-ray oddball
Big blue star is an X-ray oddball
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jesse Emspak | 2014 Jun 16
Pulsating X-rays allow XMM-Newton to unmask a mysterious star
ESA Science & Technology | XMM-Newton | 2014 Jun 03
Discovery of X-ray pulsations from a massive star - Lidia M. Oskinova et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=33550
New Scientist | Astrophile | Jesse Emspak | 2014 Jun 16
Object: Xi-1 Canis Majoris
Superpower: Surprise X-ray pulses
Sometimes monsters hide in plain sight, and it takes a hero with X-ray vision to find them.
A European space telescope has spotted a massive star that is pulsing with brilliant X-rays. Studying the bizarre beast might yield important insights into stellar evolution, for instance, why some stars have strong magnetic fields while others don't, and what controls their powerful winds of charged particles.
The European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite has been zooming overhead since 1999, revealing details about objects such as galaxies, stars and black holes based on the X-rays they emit. Lidia Oskinova at the University of Potsdam in Germany and her colleagues were using the telescope to take a closer look at Xi-1 Canis Majoris, a large blue star near the constellation Canis Major. ...
Pulsating X-rays allow XMM-Newton to unmask a mysterious star
ESA Science & Technology | XMM-Newton | 2014 Jun 03
Discovery of X-ray pulsations from a massive star - Lidia M. Oskinova et al
- Nature Communications 5 4024 (03 Jun 2014) DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5024
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1406.0845 > 03 Jun 2014
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=33550
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
I thought I had seen that image before, but I couldn't find it. I've tried to put link backs to previous topics but I might have missed some.geckzilla wrote:Jellyfish galaxy is a delightful name for that phenomenon. Much better than Catherine wheel...
edit: Wikipedia calls it the Comet Galaxy.
I think it is a cut from the Hubble image of Abell 2667
(ESA/Hubble & NASA/STScI HubbleSite).
Another example: ESO 137-001 in Abell 3627.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
- geckzilla
- Ocular Digitator
- Posts: 9180
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Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
That galaxy is really funny. It's like it got slapped it across the face and blood and saliva stars went flying in the direction of the slap.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.
- MargaritaMc
- Look to the Evenstar
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Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
Not quite so dramatic, but helped me see what was happening.geckzilla wrote:That galaxy is really funny. It's like it got slapped it across the face and blood and saliva stars went flying in the direction of the slap.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Not the same galaxy by the way! Just ram pressure stripping in action.This cluster is violently ripping the spiral's entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime.
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
— Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS
Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
ESA/HEIC: Spiral galaxy spills blood and gutsgeckzilla wrote:That galaxy is really funny. It's like it got slapped it across the face and blood and saliva stars went flying in the direction of the slap.
Here are a two more animations from ESA/HEIC: PR Video heic0705c & PR Video heic0705dMargaritaMc wrote:Not quite so dramatic, but helped me see what was happening.
PR Video heic1404d
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Re: New Scientist: Astrophile
Thanks for the Astrophile postings, bystander! Very interesting.
Ann
Ann
Color Commentator
- MargaritaMc
- Look to the Evenstar
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- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
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Re: Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in cluster
Duh! I never thought to look for them at the Hubble site! I've bookmarked the video section now - much easier to find things there than at YouTube. Thank you!bystander wrote: Here are a two more animations from ESA/HEIC: PR Video heic0705c & PR Video heic0705d
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
— Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS