APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

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APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:06 am

Image The Large Cloud of Magellan

Explanation: The 16th century Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere skygazers are known as the Clouds of Magellan, now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. About 160,000 light-years distant in the constellation Dorado, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen here in a remarkably deep, colorful, image. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies and is the home of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A. The prominent patch below center is 30 Doradus, also known as the magnificent Tarantula Nebula, a giant star-forming region about 1,000 light-years across.

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Ann » Thu Sep 05, 2019 5:31 am

I have very little time to write anything here, but I have to say that today's APOD is a superb image! :D

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Boomer12k » Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:21 am

It is a great image, good overall detail...

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:26 am

Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 5:31 am I have very little time to write anything here, but I have to say that today's APOD is a superb image! :D

Ann
Lots of blue in this image Ann; very colorful! 8-)
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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by JohnD » Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:58 pm

I know it's just 'paradoeilia' or however it's spelt, but as this APOD formed on my screen it briefly went through a low res phase. And looked as if it would resolve into a map of the British Isles! Complete, both the British and Irish islands, in correct orientation!

I know we are about to cut ourselves off from Europe, but to relocate to an orbit around the Milky Way is a bit extreme, Prime Minister Johnson!

John

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:32 pm

JohnD wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:58 pm I know it's just 'paradoeilia' or however it's spelt, but as this APOD formed on my screen it briefly went through a low res phase. And looked as if it would resolve into a map of the British Isles! Complete, both the British and Irish islands, in correct orientation!

I know we are about to cut ourselves off from Europe, but to relocate to an orbit around the Milky Way is a bit extreme, Prime Minister Johnson!
Does the PM know he can't take the Irish republic with him?

It has occurred to me that as long as the UK was in the EU, Ireland was in a sense united. That's going to change.

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:36 pm

I find it odd that these galaxies, that had already been known to southerners for thousands of years, were named for a European johnny-come-lately. But then the same can be said for the American continents.

(I'll give him the Straits of Magellan, though. He deserves that.)

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Ann » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:06 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:26 am
Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 5:31 am I have very little time to write anything here, but I have to say that today's APOD is a superb image! :D

Ann
Lots of blue in this image Ann; very colorful! 8-)
Indeed! But the Large Magellanic Cloud really is a very blue galaxy, full of blue stars! :D

Ann
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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:20 pm

Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:06 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:26 am
Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 5:31 am I have very little time to write anything here, but I have to say that today's APOD is a superb image! :D

Ann
Lots of blue in this image Ann; very colorful! 8-)
Indeed! But the Large Magellanic Cloud really is a very blue galaxy, full of blue stars! :D

Ann
That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Orin

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Ann » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:55 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:20 pm
Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:06 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:26 am

Lots of blue in this image Ann; very colorful! 8-)
Indeed! But the Large Magellanic Cloud really is a very blue galaxy, full of blue stars! :D

Ann
That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Not a young galaxy per se, not young in such a way that the LMC lacks old stars. The oldest stars in the LMC are probably at least, say, 12, 13 or possibly even 14 billion years old.

But in his book "The Galaxies in the Local Group" (2000), Sidney van den Bergh argued that the LMC formed very few new stars during most of its lifetime. But two billion years ago it exploded in a great burst of star formation, which reached its peak one billion years ago. Today star formation is still very vigorous in our largest satellite galaxy, and the LMC is still forming more stars "now" than it did two billion years ago. Which is another way of saying that most stars in the LMC are probably only two billion years old or even younger. In other words, most stars in the LMC are less than half as old as the Sun! I don't know if that is true, but it is fantastic to think of.

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:58 pm

Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:55 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:20 pm
Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:06 pm

Indeed! But the Large Magellanic Cloud really is a very blue galaxy, full of blue stars! :D

Ann
That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Not a young galaxy per se, not young in such a way that the LMC lacks old stars. The oldest stars in the LMC are probably at least, say, 12, 13 or possibly even 14 billion years old.
I'll take that as rounding error, given that the Universe is less than 14 billion years old!
Chris

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:37 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:58 pm
That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Not a young galaxy per se, not young in such a way that the LMC lacks old stars. The oldest stars in the LMC are probably at least, say, 12, 13 or possibly even 14 billion years old.
[/quote]

I'll take that as rounding error, given that the Universe is less than 14 billion years old!
[/quote]

How do we even measure such ages I take it Ann was maybe suggesting maybe a billion years or so? Maybe a possibility
of a billion years? I sure these are figured in Earth years? :mrgreen:
Orin

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:39 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:37 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:58 pm
That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Not a young galaxy per se, not young in such a way that the LMC lacks old stars. The oldest stars in the LMC are probably at least, say, 12, 13 or possibly even 14 billion years old.
I'll take that as rounding error, given that the Universe is less than 14 billion years old!
[/quote]

How do we even measure such ages I take it Ann was maybe suggesting maybe a billion years or so? Maybe a possibility
of a billion years? I sure these are figured in Earth years? :mrgreen:
[/quote]

Sorry; I don't know how the wording got messed up! :oops:
Orin

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Re: APOD: The Large Cloud of Magellan (2019 Sep 05)

Post by Ann » Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:14 am

Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:58 pm
Ann wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:55 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:20 pm

That's youth Ann! A young galaxy perhaps?
Not a young galaxy per se, not young in such a way that the LMC lacks old stars. The oldest stars in the LMC are probably at least, say, 12, 13 or possibly even 14 billion years old.
I'll take that as rounding error, given that the Universe is less than 14 billion years old!
Indeed, my bad, Chris. I'll say, in my defence, that Sidney van den Bergh used a chart which assumed that the Universe is more than 15 billion years old.

Ann
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