Somethings from Astronomy

Some information from astronomy

Maybe new information from astronomy class

Cosmic Hand Reaches for the Light

One of the spookiest findings in space:

Red represents low-energy X-rays, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. The blue hand-like structure was created by energy emanating from the nebula around they dying star PSR B1509-58. The red areas are from a neighboring gas cloud called RCW 89.

(Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.)

Screaming skull in space

One of the spookiest findings in space:

This screaming skull is actually a Chandra image of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies in x-rays. (Image credit: A. Fabian (IoA Cambridge) et al., NASA)

Witch's Head In Space From NASA

It looks like a witch screaming out into space. But, as a nebula, it's really a space cloud that's brewing up baby stars. If she scares you, not to worry. She's hundreds of light-years away in the Orion constellation.

Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17553

Astronaut in space

Astronaut in space (Source: wikimedia)

Interesting picture of Jupiter Over the Mediterranean

Interesting picture of Jupiter Over the Mediterranean (Credit: Tunç Tezel (TWAN))

Newly presented dates of the eras of universe

(This article has been cross posted from SayPeople.com)

Main Points:

According to the newly presented dates of the major eras of the universe, the era of radiation ended about 50,150 years after inflation and the era of matter ended 10.31 billion years after inflation.

Published in:

arXiv

Study Further:

Phases of the known Universe’s evolution:

In the studies of astronomoy, following are considered as the phases in the evolution of the known universe:

1. Radiation-dominated era

Radiation-dominated era is considered as the first of the three phases of the known universe. During this time, radiation set the dynamics of the universe. In the last stages of this era, deuterium and helium formed by the fusion of protons and neutrons.

2. Matter-dominated era

Matter-dominated era was the second phase in the evolution of the universe. During this time, energy density of matter exceeds the energy density of radiation in the universe and atoms form. In the middle stages of this phase, first stars and quasars glow in the universe, and galaxies form and grow. In the last stages of this phase, galaxies started merging and evolution and dark energy started to dominate the universe.

3. Dark-energy-dominated era

Dark-energy-dominated era started in the last and is considered as the present era of the universe.

Present research:

In the present study (that is very elementary at the time of writing this article), Kevin Cahill from Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of New Mexico,  utilized data from Planck satellite and reported that the era of radiation ended 15 thousand years earlier and the era of matter ended 1.5 billion years later than the WMAP data had suggested.

It has been reported that the era of matter ended about 3.51 billion years ago, i.e. 10.31 billion years after inflation, while the era of radiation ended about 50,150 years after inflation.

Reference:

The Early Universe - http://physics.uoregon.edu/~jimbrau/astr123/notes/chapter27.html

Kevin Cahill (2013). New dates for the eras of the universe from the Planck data arXiv arXiv: 1308.6001v1

Cosmic rays and some research suggestions

(This article has been cross-posted from SayPeople.com)

Cosmic ray illustration (Credit: NSF / J. Yang)

Main Point:

Cosmic rays are among the only intergalactic matter available for direct observation. They have a high energy range and could hold information for some new form of physics.

Published in:

Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement

Study Further:

Pulsar:

It is referred to as a small dense star that releases brief, intense bursts of visible radiation, radio waves, and X-rays, and is thought to be a rapidly rotating neutron star.

Quasar:

It refers to a compact object present at a very large distance from us in space, usually with a large red shift. It releases huge amounts of energy that could be equal to the energy output of an entire galaxy.

Cosmic Rays:

Cosmic rays are a stream of high-energy radiation that reaches the earth from outer space. These are the only interstellar and intergalactic matter available to us for direct investigation.

We can study the protons and electrons in the local universe with the help of cosmic rays emitted in the interstellar space in the Milky Way and in other galaxies. They have an energy range of 10⁶ to 10²⁰ eV that can help scientists to study particle interactions in the natural accelerator as this level of energy cannot be attained with the help of present technology.

Observations at relatively low energies can be done from space and can help in giving most detailed information about cosmic rays that can be used to obtain the information regarding global properties of the Galaxy such as diffusion co-efficient and the size of the region filled with cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are found to be a widespread phenomenon related to the process of star formation.

Research suggestions:

In the field of astronomy, cosmic rays need a lot of research. You can work on this phenomenon. According to researchers, they may hold information for some new physics that is still to be explored.

Scientists are still unclear about the mechanism of the sharp increase in the positron fraction e⁺/(e⁺+e^-) . You can work on this sharp increase in positron fraction that is thought to be caused by some primary source such as astrophysical object like pulsars or microquasars, or dark matter annihilation.

Reference:

Igor V. Moskalenko (2013). Cosmic Rays in the Milky Way and Beyond Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement arXiv: 1308.5482v1

Discovery of many planetary nebulae in a nearby galaxy

(This article has been cross posted from SayPeople.com)

Main Point:

Scientists have reported some new planetary nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud (IV), i.e. outer LMC.

Published in:

arXiv

Study Further:

Nebula:

It is a region or cloud of interstellar dust and gas appearing variously as a hazy bright or dark patch. It is also called as nebulosity.

Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC):

LMC is a large nearby irregular galaxy. It is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way. It has a mass of about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun, i.e. 10^10 solar masses, and a diameter of about 14,000 light-years.

It can be seen as a faint cloud in the night sky of the southern hemisphere and appears more than 20 times the width of the full moon.

Research:

In the present study, researchers used the maps from the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS) and the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) Hα survey, to study planetary nebulae. They reported 63 outer region LMC planetary nebulae for the first time. These nebulae are considered among the faintest and most evolved nebulae in the outer region of LMC.

Discovery of these new planetary nebulae added about 9% of the amount to the known amount of the LMC planetary nebulae population overall and about 40% (considerably larger amount) of those nebulae are present in the outer regions.

You can see the images of the new discoveries in the paper mentioned in the reference.

Research Suggestions:

It has been suggested that there would be about 900 planetary nebulae in the LMC and at this time we are aware of 715 nebulae in the LMC. You can work on this project of finding further nebulae.

Reference:

Warren A. Reid, & Quentin A. Parker (2013). A New Population of Planetary Nebulae Discovered in the Large Magellanic
Cloud (IV): The Outer LMC MNRAS arXiv: 1308.5484v1

Presence of rare Earth element in distant stars

Article first published as Tellurium, Rare Earth Element, Observed in Three Ancient Stars on Technorati.

Researchers, including researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have found that “tellurium” – a brittle and semiconducting, very rare element on Earth – is present in three stars that are present few thousand years away from Earth and are almost 12 billion years old.

Researchers have used the spectrograph from the Hubble Space Telescope, which enabled the light to be split into spectrum of wavelength. The dips in spectrographic data told about the presence of atoms of the rare Earth element as the atoms absorbed certain wavelengths of starlight and gave rise to dips.

This research has also supported the theory that heavier elements in periodic table originated as a result of nuclear fusion from a rare type of supernova.

"We want to understand the evolution of tellurium — and by extension any other element — from the Big Bang to today," says Anna Frebel, an assistant professor of astrophysics at MIT and a co-author on the paper. "Here on Earth, everything's made from carbon and various other elements, and we want to understand how tellurium on Earth came about."

Researchers have also observed that the ratio of barium and strontium is same in all three stars.

"If you look at the periodic table, tellurium is right in the middle of these elements that are hard for us to measure," Jennifer Johnson, an associate professor of astronomy at Ohio State University said. "If we need to understand how [the r-process] works in the universe, we really have to measure this part of the periodic table. It's really cool that they got this element in this sea of unknown-ness."

This research has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Source:

MIT

Eta Carinae would be a mystery no more

Researchers have used the mix of visible-light and spectroscopic observations to find that Eta Carinae was not very hot in the beginning and that is why it didn't lit through supernova.

Eta Carinae is a supermassive star, i.e. 100 times more massive than Sun, and situated about 7500 light years away.

This research has been published online in the February issue of the journal Nature.

"When the eruption was seen on Earth 170 years ago, there were no cameras capable of recording the event," explained Armin Rest, leading researcher and corresponding author in the research. "Everything astronomers have known to date about Eta Carinae's outburst is from eyewitness accounts. Modern observations with science instruments were made years after the eruption actually happened. It's as if nature has left behind a surveillance tape of the event, which we are now just beginning to watch. We can trace it year by year to see how the outburst changed."

Source:
SayPeople

Via:
Hubble Site

Dwarf Galaxy engulfing even smaller dwarf galaxy

Researchers have taken image of the dwarf galaxy, NGC 4449, that is going to engulf another smaller dwarf galaxy.

This is the first time that researchers have proved the engulfment of smaller galaxies to make a bigger galaxy.

The dwarf galaxy NGC 4449 (top left) and the even tinier galaxy it is about to gobble up (bottom right). 

Image Credit: R. J. GaBany (BBO)/D. Martínez-Delgado (MPIA)

This research has been done by researchers from Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and UCLA and published online in the February 8 issue of the journal Nature.

Source:
SayPeople

Via:
MPIA

Carina Nebula with detailed information

Carina Nebula (Credit: T. Preibisch/ESO)

Scientists from European Southern Observatory (ESO) has combined the technologies of Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile with an infrared camera called Hawk-I and taken an image of massive star formation named as Carina Nebula.

Carina nebula is located about 7500 light years away from the Earth. You can see the image above.

From SayPeople,

In this image, Eta Carinae, a star, is shown in the bottom left corner in glowing lights. This star is very unstable and according to scientists will soon explode with a supernova producing more bright light for a brief period of time than the rest of the galaxy. 

Brighter star near the center of the image is Trumpler 14. In the image at the right of the center, several black dots with dark tails are visible. They contain newly-forming stars.

Source:
SayPeople

Via:
ESO