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MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 4:03 pm
by bystander
MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts About Early Universe
Out on the edge of the universe, 75,000 light years from us, a galaxy known as Segue 1 has some unusual properties: It is the faintest galaxy ever detected. It is very small, containing only about 1,000 stars. And it has a rare chemical composition, with vanishingly small amounts of metallic elements present.
Now a team of scientists, including an MIT astronomer, has analyzed that chemical composition and come away with new insights into the evolution of galaxies in the early stages of our universe — or, in this case, into a striking lack of evolution in Segue 1. Commonly, stars form from gas clouds and then burn up as supernova explosions after about a billion years, spewing more of the elements that are the basis for a new generation of star formation.
Not Segue 1: In contrast to all other galaxies, as the new analysis shows, it appears that Segue 1’s process of star formation halted at what would normally be an early stage of a galaxy’s development. ...
Carnegie: Nearby Galaxy Is a "Fossil" from the Early Universe
Segue 1: An Unevolved Fossil Galaxy from the Early Universe - Anna Frebel, Joshua D. Simon, Evan N. Kirby
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:18 pm
by Doum
"Out on the edge of the universe, 75,000 light years from us, a galaxy known as Segue 1 has some unusual properties: It is the faintest galaxy ever detected"
??? If our galaxy is 100,000 light year in diameter, Then how come they say
edge of the universe and give a mere
75,000 light years as distance. It would mean that this galaxy is inside our. I dont understand it.
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:24 pm
by geckzilla
They meant to write on the edge of our galaxy or maybe at the edge of our galaxy.
Nevermind, that doesn't make sense.
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:35 pm
by bystander
If Segue 1 was 75,000 ly further away from the center than us, it would be outside the Milky Way. Likewise, since the Milky Way is a disk galaxy, 75,000 ly up or down would place it outside the Milky Way.
They think that Segue 1 may have been one of the first galaxies ever formed, therefore, on the edge of the universe.
SciAm: Fossil Galaxy May Be One of First Ever Formed
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 7:16 pm
by Beyond
I'll wait until they write it betterer.
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:41 pm
by Doum
bystander wrote:If Segue 1 was 75,000 ly further away from the center than us, it would be outside the Milky Way. Likewise, since the Milky Way is a disk galaxy, 75,000 ly up or down would place it outside the Milky Way.
They think that Segue 1 may have been one of the first galaxies ever formed, therefore, on the edge of the universe.
SciAm: Fossil Galaxy May Be One of First Ever Formed
Got it now. i understand
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:51 pm
by Ann
Well, as far as we know the universe has only one edge, which is the Big Bang itself. That was when T=0. So Segue 1 formed pretty close to T=0, then.
I get it. I think.
Ann
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 4:20 am
by BDanielMayfield
Come on guys. Think, what would nuefer write?
Webster’s Dictionary wrote:
Oxymoron
Full Definition: a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly : something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements
Does this not meet that definition?
Out on the edge of the universe, 75,000 light years from us …
Where did that quote come from bystander? As Beyond pointed out, it needed to be stated better[er], and I think that it now has been because I couldn’t find this [mis]statement in ether of the articles to which bystander provided links. Prestigious institutions like MIT and Carnegie would be quick to correct such a glaring error, I would think.
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 4:23 am
by bystander
It was copied from the MIT press release, which has been changed. I still have it in an e-mail.
Re: MIT: 'Wimpy' Dwarf Fossil Galaxy Reveals New Facts
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 5:05 am
by BDanielMayfield
bystander wrote:It was copied from the MIT press release, which has been changed. I still have it in an e-mail.
Thanks bystander. Then this has all been a tempest in a teapot. That one statement overshadowed what is a really a very important finding though. The stars in Segue 1, few though they are, should be the oldest stars yet found, and they're right next door, so to speak.
I would guess that this micro galaxy couldn’t have been this close to the Milky Way for all that long, or it would have been contaminated by metals from more normal Local Group galaxies.