Beautiful galaxy and space thread

[Rane1071]

Continuing the Halloween theme ...

Things That Go Bump in the Gamma Rays

Scientists working with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope have been jumping to study mysterious bumps in the gamma rays for a decade now. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light. Invisible to human eyes, they’re created by some of the most powerful and unusual events and objects in the universe. In celebration of Halloween, here are a few spooky gamma-ray findings from Fermi’s catalog.

Stellar Graveyards

If you could explore the stellar gravesite created when a star explodes as a supernova, you’d find a cloud of debris expanding into interstellar space. Some of the chemical elements in that debris, like gold and platinum, go on to create new stars and planets! Fermi found that supernova remnants IC 443 and W44 also accelerate mysterious cosmic rays, high-energy particles moving at nearly the speed of light. As the shockwave of the supernova expands, particles escape its magnetic field and interact with non-cosmic-ray particles to produce gamma rays.

[NOBABE]Black Widow Pulsars[/NOBABE]

Black widows and redbacks are species of spiders with a reputation for devouring their partners. Astronomers have discovered two types of star systems that behave in a similar way. Sometimes when a star explodes as a supernova, it collapses back into a rapidly spinning, incredibly dense star called a pulsar. If there’s a lighter star nearby, it can get stuck in a close orbit with the pulsar, which blasts it with gamma rays, magnetic fields and intense winds of energetic particles. All these combine to blow clouds of material off the low-mass star. Eventually, the pulsar can eat away at its companion entirely.

Ghost Particles

But the sources of cosmic rays aren’t the only particle mysteries Fermi studies. Just this July, Fermi teamed up with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica to discover the first source of neutrinos outside our galactic neighborhood. Neutrinos are particles that weigh almost nothing and rarely interact with anything. Around a trillion of them pass through you every second, ghost-like, without you noticing and then continue on their way. (But don’t worry, like a friendly ghost, they don’t harm you!) Fermi traced the neutrino IceCube detected back to a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy. By the time it reached Earth, it had traveled for 3.7 billion years at almost the speed of light!

 

[Rane1071]

Dwarf galaxy DDO 68

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a cosmic oddity, dwarf galaxy DDO 68.

This ragged collection of stars and gas clouds looks at first glance like a recently-formed galaxy in our own cosmic neighbourhood. But, is it really as young as it looks?

https://spacetelescope.org/images/heic1421a/

 

[Rane1071]

'Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/5633/victoria-crater-at-meridiani-planum/

 

[Rane1071]

 

[Rane1071]

 

[Rane1071]

The luminous purple sky is mirrored in the thin sheet of water across the world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, in Bolivia.

 

[Rane1071]

Neutron stars comprise one of the possible evolutionary end-points of high mass stars. Once the core of the star has completely burned to iron, energy production stops and the core rapidly collapses, squeezing electrons and protons together to form neutrons and neutrinos. The neutrinos easily escape the contracting core but the neutrons pack closer together until their density is equivalent to that of an atomic nucleus. At this point, the neutrons occupy the smallest space possible (in a similar fashion to the electrons in a white dwarf) and, if the core is less than about 3 solar masses, they exert a pressure which is capable of supporting a star.

Neutron stars can rotate up to 500 times in 1 second!

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/N/Neutron+Star

 

[Rane1071]

 

[Rane1071]

https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-captures-cosmic-dolphin-swimming-in-jupiters-clouds/

 

[Rane1071]

 

[Rane1071]

The constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) is especially rich in galaxies, due in part to the presence of a massive and gravitationally-bound collection of over 1300 galaxies called the Virgo Cluster. One particular member of this cosmic community, NGC 4388, is captured in this image, as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

Located some 60 million light-years away, NGC 4388 is experiencing some of the less desirable effects that come with belonging to such a massive galaxy cluster. It is undergoing a transformation, and has taken on a somewhat confused identity.

https://spacetelescope.org/images/potw1649a/

 

[Rane1071]

"Massive Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841 "

It is one of the more massive galaxies known. A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. This sharp view of the gorgeous island universe shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk.

NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky Way .

 

[luis1972]

Great pics!!!

 

[Rane1071]

Great pics!!!

:hatsoff:

 

[freeones_regina]

:hatsoff:

Oh I like that lamp, where is it from, do you know?

 

[Rane1071]

Oh I like that lamp, where is it from, do you know?

Yeah they're really cool aren't they? They're called "Moon Lamps" and you can buy them online at various places or Ebay and Amazon.

https://www.theoriginalmoonlamp.com/

https://ultimatemoonlamps.com.au/

 

[~~whimsy~~]

"Rane what are you doing up so late on computer again? Come to bed."

"Nothing!" *hides gif folder* "no one will ever get between us my loves."

---

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/14/wo...oogleapis.com/auth/chrome-content-suggestions

 

[Rane1071]

"Rane what are you doing up so late on computer again? Come to bed."

"Nothing!" *hides gif folder* "no one will ever get between us my loves."

---

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/14/wo...oogleapis.com/auth/chrome-content-suggestions

:1orglaugh Yep. You nailed it.

Me when I find an awesome gif.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

:1orglaugh :hatsoff:

What you think of the article?

 

[~~whimsy~~]

2 more rogue planets found in milky way galaxy

http://astronomy.com/news/2018/11/rogue-one-and-two