Spaced Today

Beryl Markham, West With the Night

24 January 2012

Some brilliant information about the Universe to think about, thank you space.com - you’ve done it again!

18 January 2012

Sir Arthur Eddington, The Internal Constitution of the Stars, 1930

18 January 2012

Stars. 

Don’t they seem so serene sparkling away in the night sky? 

It’s a shame but we all know that’s not always been the case. 

It is generally thought that stars form in a violent reaction between gas particles when dense parts of molecular clouds collapse from their own gravity (for more information on star formation check out this website - it explains it brilliantly - http://www.universetoday.com/24190/how-does-a-star-form/). 

Stars similar to our own sun formed in galactic clusters and are thought to form the centre of these molecular nebulae.  During formation the massive young stars give off hot winds to carve bubbles inside of these gigantic clouds.  Yes you read that right - BUBBLES!

More and more of these massive bubbles are being discovered thanks to a huge venture involving the public - “The Milky Way Project”.  The scheme, named after our very own galaxy, comprises of over 440,000 images taken for the survey, which aimed to map around 85% of the Milky Way, were taken by a camera onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope in association with an analysis called GLIMPSE (Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire - good job they came up with an acronym ‘cause that’s rather a mouthful!).  Spitzer’s high resolution infrared camera is able to plot the galactic plane in great detail making it possible to see these amazing galactic bubbles.  More information about GLIMPSE and Spitzer can be found here: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/sirtf/

The project is attempting to, among other things, determine exactly what these bubbles actually are.  At the moment physicist think that these regions around the young stars are actually a bit like shockwaves which can be seen in infrared light (in the image above credited to NASA and “The Milky Way Project” the red area represents where the ‘shock’ has already passed through and the bright green ring around it is where the ‘shock’ is now in the gas cloud).

By using the “bubble-drawing interface” on their website it is hoped that the general public can lend a hand trying to plot and track down some more of these unusual characteristics in order to aid in scientists’ understanding, and perhaps wile away a rainy lunch hour or two.

To read more about “The Milky Way Project” visit their website - http://www.milkywayproject.org/ - it looks like a great way to get involved!

17 January 2012

If you look up into the heavens tonight you won’t be able to see it but it is out there…  Just a meagre seven billion light years away, the largest distant cluster galaxy cluster has been found!  Officially called ACT-CL J0102-4915 but Nicknamed ‘El Gordo’ (Spanish for ‘the fat one’) and is two million billion times the mass of our own Sun.  Hard to comprehend eh? 

The cluster was first discovered by the lovely people working at the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, Chile, and it was reported at the recent 219th American Astronomical Society meeting that it is still growing! 

This large group of stars is in fact two separate subclusters colliding at about seven million kilometres per hour, producing an incredibly energetic merger as all things matter, including the dark kind, crash into each other.

‘El Gordo’ image from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/massive-galaxy-cluster/ where the pinky red areas represent the two separate swarms of galaxies and the blue is the collision point - an asymmetric cloud of hot, x-ray emitting gas in middle

Astronomers at the meeting got rather giddy about the prospect of being able to understand how these massive star systems form, grow and collide with one another in more detail from studying the cluster.  This is mainly due to the fact that when we are looking at ‘El Gordo’ we are actually seeing it as though the Universe is approximately half as old as it is now, with structures forming at a very different rates to how they would today.

We also have to remember that systems like ‘El Gordo’ release energetic particles when forming that have an effect on the cosmic microwave background (faint glow left over from the Big Bang that can be found across the Universe) so being able to see the early stages of a star cluster will hopefully help us understand a little bit more how we came to be - and maybe, just maybe, shed a little light (LOL) on dark energy and matter…

11 January 2012

Makes ya think doesn’t it?!

Image from: http://www.despair.com/wishes.html

11 January 2012

A lil’ something to think about…

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/random_musings/4747939284/

09 January 2012

If you need a hand finding the stars this January then look no further than this page on the Telegraph’s website for all the help you need, all we need now is to be able to see them - silly clouds!

09 January 2012

“Look up and get lost”

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtsalt/6088943668/in/photostream

06 January 2012

So there really is no need to “pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars” this week as there are meteors galore showering us from the heavens!  These are coming from the Quadrantid meteor shower - the first of 2012 - and are producing some spectacular sights. 

Image from http://www.staplenews.com/home/2012/1/3/live-quadrantid-meteor-shower.html

If you would like a little more information have a looksy here: http://www.space.com/14136-photos-2012-quadrantid-meteor-shower-images.html and if you are lucky enough to see one make a wish for me!

04 January 2012

*Just in case you didn’t get the reference - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNAb6h6WL_A