CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Find out the latest thinking about our universe.
Post Reply
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by bystander » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:49 pm

IC 10: A Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-Ray Observatory | 2017 Aug 10
[c][imghover=http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2017/ic10/ic10_w11.jpg]http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2017/ic10/i ... er_525.jpg[/imghover]Credit: Optical: Bill Snyder Astrophotography
X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass Lowell/S. Laycock et al.
[/c][hr][/hr]
In 1887, American astronomer Lewis Swift discovered a glowing cloud, or nebula, that turned out to be a small galaxy about 2.2 billion light years from Earth. Today, it is known as the "starburst" galaxy IC 10, referring to the intense star formation activity occurring there.

More than a hundred years after Swift's discovery, astronomers are studying IC 10 with the most powerful telescopes of the 21st century. New observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal many pairs of stars that may one day become sources of perhaps the most exciting cosmic phenomenon observed in recent years: gravitational waves. ...

Starburst galaxies like IC 10 are excellent places to search for X-ray binaries because they are churning out stars rapidly. Many of these newly born stars will be pairs of young and massive stars. The most massive of the pair will evolve more quickly and leave behind a black hole or a neutron star partnered with the remaining massive star. If the separation of the stars is small enough, an X-ray binary system will be produced.

This new composite image of IC 10 combines X-ray data from Chandra (blue) with an optical image (red, green, blue) taken by amateur astronomer Bill Snyder from the Heavens Mirror Observatory in Sierra Nevada, California. The X-ray sources detected by Chandra appear as a darker blue than the stars detected in optical light. ...

The X-Ray Binary Population of the Nearby Dwarf Starburst Galaxy
IC 10: Variable and Transient X-Ray Sources
- Silas G. T. Laycock et al Blue Supergiant X-Ray Binaries in the Nearby Dwarf Galaxy IC 10 - Silas G. T. Laycock et al
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

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13370
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by Ann » Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:07 am

Very interesting! IC 10 is an intriguing galaxy, the only starburst galaxy of the Local Group.

However...
Chandra/NASA wrote:
In 1887, American astronomer Lewis Swift discovered a glowing cloud, or nebula, that turned out to be a small galaxy about 2.2 billion light years from Earth.
Eh, no.

2.2 billion light-years is a long way away, more than forty times the distance to the Virgo Cluster at ~50 million light-years. And unlike the galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, IC 10 is seen through rather thick galactic dust towards the constellation of Cassiopeia.
Wikipedia wrote:

IC 10 is the only known starburst galaxy in the Local Group of galaxies.

Distance 2.2 ± 0.2 Mly (660 ± 60 kpc
So IC 10 is about 2.2 million light-years away.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by MargaritaMc » Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:29 am

Ann wrote:Very interesting! IC 10 is an intriguing galaxy, the only starburst galaxy of the Local Group.

However...
[...] IC 10 is about 2.2 million light-years away.

Ann
Thanks for catching that error, Ann! Would it be a good idea for you to notify NASA/Chandra in the comment box on the press release page? It is rather a glaring "typo", isn't it?
Last edited by MargaritaMc on Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
"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

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by MargaritaMc » Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:34 am

There's a map of the local group here, showing IC 10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group#Map

I'd embed it, but I've forgotten how to do it on this board.
"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

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13370
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by Ann » Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:17 am

MargaritaMc wrote:
Ann wrote:Very interesting! IC 10 is an intriguing galaxy, the only starburst galaxy of the Local Group.

However...
[...] IC 10 is about 2.2 million light-years away.

Ann
Thanks for catching that error, Ann! Would it be a good idea for you to notify NASA/Chandra in the comment box on the press release page? It is rather a glaring "typo", isn't it?
Thanks for the suggestion, Margarita! I have notified them now.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by neufer » Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:22 am


MargaritaMc wrote:
There's a map of the local group here, showing IC 10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group#Map

I'd embed it, but I've forgotten how to do it on this board.
Looks to be about 2,2 million light years from M31 as well... like it was in a stable Lagrangian point of a binary M31/Milky Way rotating system.
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by MargaritaMc » Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:39 pm

@ Ann :thumb_up:

@ Neufer - also :thumb_up: (And I've looked at how you embedded the image)
"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

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by neufer » Mon Aug 14, 2017 1:27 pm

MargaritaMc wrote:@ Ann :thumb_up:

@ Neufer - also :thumb_up: (And I've looked at how you embedded the image)
While I did successfully embed the image the image & I are just good friends.
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: CXC: Starburst Galaxy with the Prospect of Gravitational Waves

Post by MargaritaMc » Mon Aug 14, 2017 3:41 pm

neufer wrote:[...] the image & I are just good friends.
:lol2:
"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

Post Reply