by Ann » Mon May 20, 2019 11:43 pm
bystander wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 3:10 pm
Come a Little Closer
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2019 May 20
This Picture of the Week stars
Messier 90, a beautiful spiral galaxy located roughly 60 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation of
Virgo (
The Virgin). The galaxy is part of the
Virgo Cluster, a gathering of galaxies that is over 1200 strong.
This image combines infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light gathered by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (
WFC2) on the NASA/ESA
Hubble Space Telescope. This camera was operational between 1994 and 2010, producing images with an unusual staircase-like shape as seen here. This is because the camera was made up of four light detectors with overlapping fields of view, one of which gave a higher magnification than the other three. When the four images are combined together in one picture, the high magnification image needs to be reduced in size in order for the image to align properly. This produces an image with a layout that looks like three steps.
Messier 90 is remarkable; it is one of the few galaxies seen to be travelling toward the Milky Way, not away from it. The galaxy’s light reveals this incoming motion in that it is
blueshifted. In simple terms, the galaxy is compressing the wavelength of its light as it moves towards us, like a slinky being squashed when you push on one end. This increases the frequency of the light and shifts it towards the blue end of the
spectrum. As our
Universe is expanding, almost all of the galaxies we see in the Universe are moving away from us, and we therefore see their light as
redshifted, but Messier 90 appears to be a rare exception.
Astronomers think that this blueshift is likely caused by the cluster’s colossal mass accelerating its members to high velocities on bizarre and peculiar orbits, sending them whirling around on odd paths that take them both towards and away from us over time. While the cluster itself is moving away from us, some of its constituent galaxies, such as Messier 90, are moving faster than the cluster as a whole, making it so that from Earth we see the galaxy heading towards us. However, some are also moving in the opposite direction within the cluster, and thus seem to be streaking away from us at very high velocity.
Gas being stripped from galaxy Messier 90.
Image credit: A. Boselli et al.
Sci-news wrote:
Messier 90, also known as M90 and NGC 4569, is a giant spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo, approximately 53.8 million light-years away.
This galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster, a group of about 1,300 — and possibly up to 2,000 — member galaxies.
“Astronomers noticed long ago that Messier 90 contained less gas than expected but they could not see where it had gone,” said Dr. Luca Cortese of the University of Western Australia’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.
...
According to Dr. Cortese and his colleagues Messier 90 is traveling through the Virgo Cluster at about 1,200 km a second, and it is this movement that is causing the gas to be stripped from the galaxy.
“We know that big clusters of galaxies trap a lot of hot gas. So when a galaxy enters the cluster it feels the pressure of all the gas, like when you feel the wind on your face, and that pressure is able to strip matter away from the galaxy,” Dr. Cortese said.
Ann
[quote=bystander post_id=292371 time=1558365016 user_id=112005]
[url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1920a/][size=125][b][i]Come a Little Closer[/i][/b][/size][/url]
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2019 May 20
[quote]
[float=left][img3="Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Sargent et al."]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/potw1920a.jpg[/img3][/float]This Picture of the Week stars [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_90]Messier 90[/url], a beautiful spiral galaxy located roughly 60 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_(constellation)]Virgo[/url] ([url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/virgo.htm]The Virgin[/url]). The galaxy is part of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_Cluster]Virgo Cluster[/url], a gathering of galaxies that is over 1200 strong.
This image combines infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light gathered by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 ([url=https://spacetelescope.org/about/general/instruments/wfpc2/]WFC2[/url]) on the NASA/ESA [url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/general/fact_sheet/]Hubble[/url] Space Telescope. This camera was operational between 1994 and 2010, producing images with an unusual staircase-like shape as seen here. This is because the camera was made up of four light detectors with overlapping fields of view, one of which gave a higher magnification than the other three. When the four images are combined together in one picture, the high magnification image needs to be reduced in size in order for the image to align properly. This produces an image with a layout that looks like three steps.
[url=http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Messier+90]Messier 90[/url] is remarkable; it is one of the few galaxies seen to be travelling toward the Milky Way, not away from it. The galaxy’s light reveals this incoming motion in that it is [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshift]blueshifted[/url]. In simple terms, the galaxy is compressing the wavelength of its light as it moves towards us, like a slinky being squashed when you push on one end. This increases the frequency of the light and shifts it towards the blue end of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation]spectrum[/url]. As our [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_the_universe]Universe is expanding[/url], almost all of the galaxies we see in the Universe are moving away from us, and we therefore see their light as [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift]redshifted[/url], but Messier 90 appears to be a rare exception.
Astronomers think that this blueshift is likely caused by the cluster’s colossal mass accelerating its members to high velocities on bizarre and peculiar orbits, sending them whirling around on odd paths that take them both towards and away from us over time. While the cluster itself is moving away from us, some of its constituent galaxies, such as Messier 90, are moving faster than the cluster as a whole, making it so that from Earth we see the galaxy heading towards us. However, some are also moving in the opposite direction within the cluster, and thus seem to be streaking away from us at very high velocity. [/quote]
[/quote]
[float=right][img2]http://cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarge2/image_3653e-Messier-90.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Gas being stripped from galaxy Messier 90.
Image credit: A. Boselli et al.[/size][/c][/float]
[quote][url=http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/galaxy-long-tail-ionized-gas-messier90-03653.html]Sci-news[/url] wrote:
Messier 90, also known as M90 and NGC 4569, is a giant spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo, approximately 53.8 million light-years away.
This galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster, a group of about 1,300 — and possibly up to 2,000 — member galaxies.
[b][color=#008040][i]“Astronomers noticed long ago that Messier 90 contained [u]less gas than expected[/u] but they could not see where it had gone,”[/i][/color][/b] said Dr. Luca Cortese of the University of Western Australia’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.
...
[b][color=#BF0000][i]According to Dr. Cortese and his colleagues Messier 90 is traveling through the Virgo Cluster at about 1,200 km a second, and it is this movement that is causing the gas to be stripped from the galaxy.[/i][/color][/b]
“We know that big clusters of galaxies trap a lot of hot gas. So when a galaxy enters the cluster it feels the pressure of all the gas, like when you feel the wind on your face, and that pressure is able to strip matter away from the galaxy,” Dr. Cortese said.[/quote]
Ann