It’s almost more beauty than the mind can take. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1202/M16_HERSCHEL_XMM_02.jpg Inside the Eagle Nebula Credit: Far-infrared: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/Hill, Motte, HOBYS Key Programme Consortium; X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC/XMM-Newton-SOC/Boulanger
Embedded in this amazing composite of M16, the Eagle Nebula, is the very famous image of the pillars of creation; see them? Herschel’s far infrared detectors see the emissions from the cold dust in the pillars of creation. But, alas, the XMM-Newton’s X-ray emissions reveal the massive, hot stars embedded there too. And so sorry to say, that one of those stars in the light reaching us now went supernova 6,000 years ago. It is the shock wave that is evident. The very same wave that will destroy the pillars of creation; in fact, they are already destroyed, but we can’t see that yet, until that light reaches us.
Too much beauty for the mind to handle. There is more beauty out there, and not even an image is needed for that. Just listen to the beauty expressed in the cutting edge thinking of astronomers now on the numbers and types of planets in our galaxy, which might interest us; how this has changed and how the best held beliefs are that there are more planets than stars in our galaxy (therefore much in excess of a hundred billlion planets), and that super-Earths are more common than the larger worlds, which might capture our attention and our imaginations.
“It’s a cautionary tale there. Yes, there may be plenty of planets that are just two to three times more massive than our own Earth. But their mean density may be very low, because they formed farther out and migrated inward, and ended up in the moderate temperature regions of their planetary systems. “What would happen if we have a very large number, maybe billions, of super-Earth-size planets in the habitable zones — but half of them, or even nine out of 10 of them, are these mini-Neptunes? Would I consider them Earthlike? Definitely not, because they don't have the same geochemistry.
“So while on one hand, the numbers have gone beyond my expectations, the diversity has gone beyond my expectations, too. And that means we might have a lot of planets with something different from an Earthlike geochemistry. Looking at the physics and the geochemistry is the only way we can go to the next step — and that is the search for signatures of life”
The diversity goes beyond his expectation. Beautiful.
And when asked if we should just look for biosignatures or biomarkers we would expect on Earth to detect life on such worlds?
“That wouldn't be prudent at all. If we just look at biosignatures as we understand them on our own Earth today, they correspond to a particular moment in time in which the microbial communities on this planet have managed to change the atmosphere in a particular way. For about half of the history of life on Earth, the atmosphere wasn't anything like what it is today. It would be foolish to just assume that all life shares the same biochemistry and the same history.
“Theoretically speaking, we should not assume that all planets that otherwise resemble Earth have the same geochemical cycle. There are alternatives.”
But, consider, these planets are more massive than Earth. Isn’t there a downside to that; they will be different than Earth, strangely low in density, arising perhaps from the outer regions of their stellar systems and migrating in? To that, the researcher says there is no downside period. They are greater candidates for life than even Earth-size duplicates. Why?
“For example, one of the problems a planet could encounter is the ability to keep water liquid on the surface, and to have the good chemical exchange between the interior and the surface. That’s very difficult to do if you don’t have an atmosphere. An atmosphere in the habitable zone is difficult to keep, because it evaporates over the course of billions of years. If you have a small planet, made of rock but still low mass, like Mars is, eventually you lose more of your atmosphere than if you have a bigger planet. There is no negative factor, it is just more of a good thing.
“Here's another example. A lot of people would say we have it good here on Earth because the moon keeps the axis of Earth's rotation more stable than it otherwise would be. It's the kind of momentum effect you get when you're on a bicycle — you can let the handlebars go and you still go straight. In a similar way, the existence of the moon out there cancels out the additional push and pull from the other planets, which could from time to time turn the axis of Earth dramatically and change the climate. This is what we think happened a few times on Mars. The more massive a planet is, the less vulnerable it would be to these effects.”
A galaxy and universe likely teaming with planets, with undoubtedly life, almost more beautiful than the mind can take.
Wishing you a wonderful day to all Space Place members!
February 3, 2012
I really like two articles written by Lisa Zyga in Physics.org. These articles explain a new way to view dark energy.
Please realize that Lisa goes very far to contrast these ideas with the “much less agreeable predictions of quantum field theory, which predicts the energy density of the quantum vacuum to be at least 30 - and up to 120 - orders of magnitude larger than the observed dark energy density.” She does stop short, however, of something we have covered on the Space Place and that is, in the standard model, the correct order of magnitude for vacuum energy we see in the universe now, can arise from spontaneous symmetry breaking.
(From my October 12, 2011 post: The standard model though also says the vacuum energy can be generated by spontaneous symmetry breaking. When scientists proposed the period of rapid inflation to account for the homogeneous nature of the universe (the universe had to rapidly expand at some early period to allow for causal contact to explain that homogeneity), they were stating that the phase transition of the universe spontaneously generated a time-dependent, huge vacuum energy density. It made the universe expand or inflate enormously. Would it be possible that a similar effect may be still be at work today, that could explain the vacuum energy (dark energy) we see today?)
That kind of spontaneous symmetry breaking, similar to what happened potentially during rapid inflation in the very early universe, can indeed have a characteristic of reversing the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. Apparently this at least is in common with these new concepts. It is possible that the researcher covered in the second article refers to this perspective as having to invent a mysterious mechanisms to account for the universe we see. So, while this article written by this science writer is extremely well done, it does not cover all the predictions of the standard model completely.
So what has this science writer presenting to us in terms of the new ideas emerging to explain dark energy? Actually two new ideas, similar in one regard. The ideas stem from the theoretical negative gravity, or repulsion, which arises between matter and anti-matter, while respectively matter attracts matter and anti-matter attracts anti-matter. The first researcher named Villata, has decided that the voids in the universe in which we believe there is nothing, between the sheets and chains of dark matter (which arose we believe from the slight density differences at the time of the Big Bang) are in fact not empty, but filled with anti-matter. If I am thinking clearly on this, the model of the Big Bang most accepted now does not predict anything close to equal matter and anti-matter in the universe. Although anti-matter and matter are created in equal parts in accelerators, I believe we explain away any great abundance of anti-matter in the universe early in such Big Bang models. Please jump in if you think I have this wrong.
Ultimately, you will see that both the theories that Zyga explains in the two parts of this article really don’t require a Big Bang, but are more in support of a cyclic universe.
So, new theory one to explain dark energy finds this anti-matter in the voids previously thought to be completely void of any matter.
I am thinking after reading the article, that the repulsive force between matter and anti-matter which created the voids, in essence eliminates the need for dark matter too. In the best accepted standard cosmology models state that small density differences at the time of the Big Bang were thought to have created the voids, when regular matter was then attracted to where the dark matter went (you don’t’ have a Big Bang in this new idea of anti-matter and matter repulsion so no problem). The repulsive force originating from anti-matter in the voids is proposed as the force driving the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.
The researcher makes the case that an anomalous component of the motion that has been observed in our sheet in which we find our local group of galaxies can also be explained by a nearby void. Nice! Very interesting. And the researcher suggests it would be very difficult but perhaps not impossible to see the effects of anti-gravitational lensing from the anti-gravity generated repulsion.
The second researcher Hajdukovic attributes the acceleration of the expansion of the universe to this same gravitational repulsion between matter and anti-matter, but doesn’t need to fill up the voids in the universe with anti-matter to accomplish this. Instead, he falls back on an accepted precept of vacuum energy, which is that particles and their anti-particles can basically arise out of nothing, or quantum fluctuations for a while. As per the article:
““If particles and antiparticles have gravitational charges of the opposite sign, a sufficiently strong gravitational field can convert a virtual pair into a real one,” Hajdukovic explained. “It is not a new hypothesis but a consequence of the Schwinger mechanism, well known in quantum field theories.”
“In the new paper, Hajdukovic calculates that the energy density of the gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum is the correct order of magnitude to act as the cosmological constant, or the force causing the Universe’s accelerating expansion.”
Again, these ideas from the two respective researchers have implications of course as to the existence of dark energy (they eliminate the need for it), to the existence of dark matter, to the nature of black holes apparently and the mass of neutrinos in the universe according to the author, and again to the cosmology they support, a cyclic universe. In fact, Haidukovic’s previous paper on these gravitational dipoles, having added in the repulsive matter/anti-matter gravity, also replaces the need for dark matter.
We need to keep our eye on what new experiments may find about the gravity of anti-matter, if indeed it is anti-gravity!
I chose the picture of the Virgo Supercluster as does the author, because of such a fine depiction of that supercluster, found in Wikipedia. (Credit: Richard Powell This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. Some rights reserved.) Do take a close, magnified look http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2012/virgosupercl.jpg Wishing you a wonderful day on the Space Place!
January 29, 2012
What if you hadn’t been born on this planet, in this solar system, in the spiral arms of this galaxy; a spiral galaxy we call the Milky Way with some few hundred billion stars?
What if instead you had been born in dwarf galaxy NGC 4449, 12.5 million light-years away from here? http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/26/image/a/format/xlarge_web/ Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Aloisi (STScI/ESA), and The Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration This galaxy hardly looks spiral, or in any way to have an ordered structure at all. Absolutely true! It’s an irregular galaxy!
So, what are the differences between this galaxy you might have instead been born into, rather than our Milky Way? One difference is the number of stars. Dwarf galaxies typically have several billion stars. Compare that to our hundreds of billions here! And, while our galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars, new stars are only formed on average of one every year (yes, it’s hard to believe, I know, but as per a recent study of star rate formation done by the Spitzer Space Telescope, 2/3 to 1.5 times the mass of the Sun are turned into stars annually), star formation in galaxies like this dwarf galaxy are tens to hundreds of times greater than that! What could account for that?
The very factor that makes NGC 4449 an irregular galaxy, specifically gravitational interaction with other galaxies, mergers, collisions, distortions compress the dust and gas into dense regions which cool rapidly; hence creating ideal star nest conditions – cold and dense gas. Starburst galaxies are arrows that tell astronomers, look here to learn more about galaxy evolution in the early universe, even if they are not that far away from us.
As per Hubble, “A "global" starburst like NGC 4449 resembles primordial star forming galaxies, which grew by merging with and accreting smaller stellar systems. Since NGC 4449 is close enough to be observed in great detail, it is the ideal laboratory for the investigation of what may have occurred during galactic formation and evolution in the early universe.”
So, what would that mean to you, if you were born on an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star there? With so much star formation going on, star death rates go up as well. When massive stars are born, they form rapidly, live rapidly and die rapidly. And when they do, they can spawn the creation of more stars by compressing gas as shockwaves emanate from their humongous death explosions.
However, their intense radiation as they die or supernova, would likely at some point, end your existence much too soon. Much too soon for beings like us to evolve into beings who might one day visit this galaxy 12.5 million light years away! Gone much too soon As we too face a collision with a galaxy even more massive than our own, Andromeda, we can watch from a safe distance now, of 12.5 million light years what one dwarf galaxy was going through 12.5 million years ago. Never forgetting this is a dangerous universe constantly in a state of change on cosmic scales!
Please note the hot-bluish regions of young massive star clusters, throughout the starburst dwarf, and the reddish regions of gas illuminated by young stars being born!
We were born here though. What type of life has born there, and what might have befallen it under those conditions?
Visithttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120130.html and then click on the highly detailed pictured of Earth taken from space, and then magnify to go exploring! Wow!
Space Place members, read this http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-students-millisecond-pulsar-gravitational.html and then consider the following quote from the article about two high school students who discovered a pulsar! This is something near and dear to the heart of many. If you want students to go into the sciences and technical fields, let them work - do meaningful work- in those fields, now! It is the one and only way to attract students who would not otherwise consider such careers for themselves. From the source itself (one of the students): “I am considering pursuing astronomy as a career choice,” said Agee. “The Pulsar Search Collaboratory has opened my eyes to how fun astronomy can be!” Science experiments can't compete with this, and in many cases are not science. Let science speak for itself. Given that chance, students know what is fun and what is not!
January 24, 2012
Space Place Members, on December 16, I posted a beautiful picture of the Omega Nebula courtesy of ESO. ESO has also taken a picture of the core of the Omega Nebula, posted today; the clearest ever taken from the Earth, via adaptive optics! http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/screen/eso1201a.jpg Credit: ESO once again.
For today’s post, let me just present a small collection of things for you to enjoy, should you have the time; a slight divergence from our usual. Astronomy is picking up in England and we can sure relate to some of the things shared in this blog http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100132174/astronomy-weve-all-got-stars-in-our-eyes/ However, I would not characterize loving the beauty of the universe as primitive as one person quoted in there says.
Wishing you a wonderful day on the Space Place! Will be back soon with something we can really sink our teeth into.
January 19, 2012
There are so many articles out there talking about the Higgs boson and I have published my share of them on the Space Place.
I greatly enjoyed a very recent article ( http://www.science.tamu.edu/articles/856 ) written by a postdoctoral researcher, Department of Physics and Astronomy from Texas A&M. Many points he raises elucidate the role of Texas A&M researchers in the work going on at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern. Along the way he emphasizes what are good thing to highlight, as we visit the search for the Higgs boson on the Space Place, and as we await a definitive answer quite possibly in 2012 that the Higgs boson exists, or not.
James A. Maxin points out that to bring into being or create a Higgs boson (should it exist), the best way to go about it, is what he calls gluon-pair fusion. Smash two protons together and the gluons which bind together the quarks, which form the protons collide, creating in that one instant this particle which everyone is seeking to know about.
The faculty member he is highlighting is Dimitri Nanopoulos, one of the founders of the GUT or Grand Unification Theory. At some point in the earliest moments of the universe, temperatures were high enough the four known forces of the universe acted as one. More currently, this is referred to as the Theory of Everything. GUT has since come to mean the description of what the universe was like when gravity froze out or separated from the GUT force which combined three of the four forces, a short period of time after the four forces were believed to be unified. Regardless of what we call it, a Theory of Everything still escapes us!
The author spends the remainder of his article highlighting the specific model of the universe that Namopouos is currently collaborating on with other colleagues at the university. In so highlighting this, it becomes apparent what the discovery of the Higgs boson at specifically an energy of 125 GeV, and the discovery of supersymmetry in 2012 would mean to physics and the world. Supersymmetry holds that there are symmetric partners of the fundamental particles we know about now. Like the search for the Higgs boson, the existence of these particles will be accomplished by the signatures each exhibits in the proton collisions at the LHC. Please note there are many contenders for the right model of the universe. Indeed, it is possible that the “best” model might not even have been considered yet.
Many of these models are dependent upon finding a Higgs boson of the aforementioned mass and the respective symmetric particle partners. From the existence of a lowest mass Higgs boson of this mass and evidence of supersymmetry, will come new possibilities for what mysterious dark matter might be comprised of. (I like the list contained in the article, which I found very enlightening, and will add to and explain here.)
How do supersymmetry and dark matter relate? It allows for the existence of a heavy stable particle which could serve as a candidate for what dark matter really is. Beyond that, it would support, for example, M-theory, a favorite of Stephen Hawking’s for the theory of everything. Hawking favors this 11 dimensional version of string theory.
String theory suggests that 1 dimensional strings vibrate all the matter and energy of the universe into existence. M theory goes further to explain the existence of our universe, uniting gravity with the other forces; consistent too with higher dimensional membranes at whose intersection (through membrane collisions) our universe and many others can come into existence. Thus, the nod is given to a multiverse perspective of existence, where our universe is only one of countless universes. Some who believe in M-theory even posit a cyclic universe which expands and contracts without a singularity.
As you can see, we are not as far along as we might hope to be. In fact, of course, the finish line is nowhere in sight on a refined Theory of Everything, in my opinion. However, the starting gun has gone off and the race is on with a very fine beginning.
So, why does today’s post show IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula, Image Data: Digitized Sky Survey; Color Composite: Noel Carboni, which is a reflection nebula, with light from Orion’s star Rigel (not shown) reflecting off of the dust in the cloud. This nebula in this universe is one of the countless things we seek to explain in a Theory of Everything.
Space Place members although we generally elaborate a lot more on images, two of the latest Astronomy Picture of the Day images are relevant to the types of things we like to emphasize here. We always want to add insight or settle on something we can learn and take forward to add perspective and new understanding to upcoming discoveries or advancements in our understanding which come about via space exploration.
In this case of this most recent Astronomy Picture of the Day http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1201/PIA15254_LMC2048.jpg Credit: ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI this image is the Large Magellanic Cloud seen in the infrared. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, and as per APOD, a mere 160,000 Light Years distant and only 30,000 Light Years across. Indeed its gravitational interaction with us is spawning star formation! The dwarf galaxy rich with giant molecular clouds is the home of the Tarantula Nebula, which we have emphasized greatly on the Space Place, the birthplace of massive hot, young stars!
What should we take forward from this? APOD emphasizes the things that I like to here. The temperatures of the dust “track” star forming activity. Spitzer data in the infrared is shown in blue, warm dust heated by the intense radiation from young stars! Yes, that largest blue region toward the left is the Tarantula Nebula. Displayed in red or green, however, are cooler dust emissions from regions where the star formation is just beginning or has stopped.
This less energetic emission compared to the Spitzer data is from the longer wavelength infrared regions of the spectrum the Herschel spacecraft provides. Where there is blue in the infrared, in the visible region of the spectrum, the Tarantula Nebula for example would glow red with the characteristic emissions from hydrogen ionized by the intense ultraviolet radiation of young hot adolescent stars!
Why is this image relevant to what we enjoy on the Space Place? All this recent new insight and hotly contested ideas about the origins of Supernovae Type Ia are about what happens when the central death product star of a planetary nebula like this one explodes.
I see no reference in the information about this planetary nebula (these objects represent the fate of our Sun when it has run out of fuel it is able to fuse) to indicate that the star which has died has a companion.
Without a companion this central dead core of the once living star will remain even when it has lost all the remaining heat from its collapse, and becomes a black dwarf; basically a diamond about the size of the Earth. It has no way to exceed 1.4 solar masses of mass, no living companion from which to siphon hydrogen, no dead companion with which to merge; hence no detonation of what is effectively a carbon bomb when that mass limit is exceeded.
And so it shall grow dim, not having signaled its demise with a nearly unparalleled explosion; not ending with a bang, but only a whimper. Not taking anything away, however, from the glorious billions of years of life it once had.
Wishing you all a wonderful day on the Space Place!
January 12, 2012
Somewhat lengthy post, Space Place members, but a really nice image at the end. There is so much Astronomy news that is just waiting for us to consider here on the Space Place! Much to do with dead or dying stars, and a first glimpse into a burgeoning galaxy cluster. Indeed the matter in the universe is drawn toward other matter via gravity, and the accelerating expansion of the universe does not win over this kind of attraction, when bodies are in reasonably close proximity to one another.
In the early universe when the universe was much smaller, the largest structures or concentrations of dark matter began to pull the regular matter into sheets or filaments. This matter became the galaxies and too, at some point ordered structures continued to be formed, as entire galaxies pulled together to form the first clusters. Want to see?
That is what astronomers have done, taken a look back in time even beyond what we have seen before or closer to the beginning of the universe, via Hubble near-infrared data. http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/614950main_protocluster-lg.jpg Several galaxies (the circled ones) made exceptionally bright (that is bright enough at that incredible distance so that they could be detected) as their mass increases by collisions are coming together to form a giant elliptical galaxy at the center of this proto-cluster only 600 million years after the universe was born. (Further work will verify this supposition based on simulation.)
This is like seeing into the delivery room during the birth of a galaxy cluster. Such processes are still going on now, as our own galaxy is being drawn toward the enormous Virgo cluster. We are seeing the process by which such a cluster as Virgo formed!!! We are humbled by what Hubble has revealed to us.
Now, our breathtaking posted picture today gives us a glimpse of a very distant supernova Type Ia explosion; in fact the most distant astronomers have ever seen. Please see the three images next to one another athttp://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/exploding-star.html
Why not survey the sky in the near-infrared for the appearance of supernovae? And, so this is Hubble’s view in its near-infrared camera, leaving behind the visual light region of the spectrum through an explosion so long ago, that the accelerating expansion of the universe has stretched the light from the explosion into the near-infrared. Success in this regard has astounding implications.
First, astronomers analyzed the explosion’s light spectrum to see how much the light had been redshifted, thus garnering the distance. The spectrum further revealed the identifying composition of a Type Ia explosion, which we have discussed at length here on the Space Place recently.
Then SN Primo, this star about the mass of the Sun which accumulated too much mass from a companion to stay in existence, having died this way when the universe was only a third of its current age, will reveal whether or not this type of star proves to be the distance indicator we have used it as; particularly in the discovery of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.
Please note the simple expression of how this white dwarf star exploded is also at issue in current astronomy news. In certain research conducted again via Hubble data, a Type Ia supernova has been found which has no companion star to be seen. This is causing all kinds of conflicting reporting from science news reporters. Some think it means that these types of explosions are only from the collision of two white dwarfs.
It is quite possible, however, that all of these observations and discoveries will point to multiple scenarios of how to get a supernova Type Ia explosion, which might shed insight into subclasses of these explosions.
Even beyond that, there is still more to garner from the explosion of dead stars about the mass of our Sun so early in the universe’s history. Astronomers watched the light from the explosion dim, increasing their observations of this phenomenon to try to understand the mechanism to this earlier time in the universe.
Astronomers will further glean how long it takes supernova Type Ia to form or exceed the mass limit which detonates them. Finding many of these at this earlier point in the universe will indicate they form quickly; finding few will say the opposite. And of course, the refinement of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe is attainable with such observations.
And finally, a black hole has been witnessed firing off two enormous “bullets” of ionized gas, after ingesting an ionized blob of gas siphoned from a nearby Sun-like star. The black hole is in our galaxy, near the galactic center.
Once the blob of gas disappeared, the regular steady jets that fire from the poles of black holes which have accretion disks of material they are feeding on, ceased. Then, came the firing of one bullet and then another! Each explosion produced as much energy in an hour as the sun emits in five years, according to NASA.
We have talked about this on the Space Place before. Stars which are Sun-like breathe their last gasp of air when they have for example, inert carbon cores.
To get to that stage, originally, their hydrogen in their cores has been exhausted, converted to helium and they are not massive enough to produce the temperatures in their cores to begin helium fusion. So as their cores continue to shrink, no longer able to offset gravity during a journey of collapse, almost ironically, it seems, the outer layers of the star begin to expand.
This is because of shell fusion, a layer just beyond the core which is now growing hot enough to being hydrogen to helium fusion. And ultimately a small reprieve from death, when the core itself through collapse gains enough temperature to begin helium fusion.
And so it goes, in a dance toward a new manifestation in death. We call them stars, these white dwarf remnants of a star which with sufficient mass in intermediate mass stars are ultimately made of carbon alone; when helium fusion has gone that far.
Now, the potential for an exit that is beyond imagination.
Should that white dwarf (which shines only through the leftover heat from its collapse, now halted by electron degeneracy pressure to maintain its existence in this form) have a companion not yet quite as far along in its death march, in its red giant phase, things can get interesting.
A star this massive right near a limit of 1.4 solar masses, having borrowed ever so much hydrogen from its neighbor, can exceed this 1.4 solar mass limit called the Chandrasekhar limit. Then, the exit I was talking about.
A type 1a supernova explosion!
What we still called a star, this white dwarf, now gone, in a detonation of basically a carbon bomb, as the star gains enough mass to continue past the electron degeneracy pressure collapse halt. Now, this star has enough mass to begin carbon fusion, but it starts much too rapidly to do anything but ignite the entire death product as a bomb! Nothing quite like it, except when a high mass star blows off its outer layers in a trek toward a death product of its own.
This, we have known, except with the quandary that looking at these type 1a supernova has led researchers to believe, through postmortem analysis, that the excess mass which triggers the explosion must instead most often come from the collision of two white dwarfs. It leaves astronomers scratching their heads at the explanation they believed best for how type 1a supernova explosions come into existence.
What was not known, however, or proposed until now by a researcher is this type of explosion can be forestalled in some cases, and the explanation for it, as described above, the borrowing of mass from a not yet dead companion could still be the right one.
An explosion of a white dwarf exceeding the 1.4 mass limit forestalled. How?
If the white dwarf has enough rotational spin, the further collapse of its core from gravity could be enabled by the spin and the supernova explosion won’t happen for perhaps another billion years until that spin slows down. Again, even if that star exceeds the 1.4 solar mass limit, with sufficient spin the igniting of the carbon bomb won’t happen for a good deal of time. In that time all evidence that the tipping point came from borrowing mass from a red giant companion is taken away. By that time, the red giant too has finally become a white dwarf.
So, fundamentally, what does that get you in the white dwarf exceeding the mass limit? A delayed detonation!
One implication at least to me, is this: Ever watch an old war movie and see the leading characters set an explosion, using an extremely long fuse. In the meantime, they get themselves out of the area where the explosion will occur and there is no telltale indication that the explosion is about to occur.
White dwarfs have exceptionally hot surfaces; they are extremely small, about the size of the Earth. As such, their luminosity is very low. Put plainly, they are hard to see from any distance. Are they like deadly bombs with extremely long fuses already lit, whose existence would never draw us to conclude an explosion was impending, without the signs that we have ever understood before?
Where are they, how many are like this, are any nearby and will we know about them only after that spin diminishes, delaying the display that is both spectacular, but could end the existence of life upon planetary systems too close for comfort?
Are we ever less than amazed at this universe?
Are we ever more prepared to understand the universe in which we live through exploration and research?
Why, then is what we learn about the universe through exploration so important?
This universe both breathtaking, and extremely dangerous.
This region needs a second look for a couple of reasons. First, this is perhaps the least well known region of many in the Orion molecular cloud. Giant molecular clouds where stars are born use just a small fraction of their dust and gas to form stars. The Great Orion Nebula itself is familiar to us, as are the Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula, which are all part of the complex; but this is just an outer part of Messier 43, De Mairan’s Nebula, separated from the Orion Nebula only by a dark lane of dust.
It is always amazing to discover something new that is worth a second look, and then a second look again! What do I mean? The giant complex is a birthplace of stars. Indeed, ESA/Hubble points out, “The Orion molecular cloud complex is about 1400 light-years away, making it one of the closest massive star formation regions to Earth. Hubble has therefore studied this extraordinary region extensively over the past two decades, monitoring how stellar winds sculpt the clouds of gas, studying young stars and their surroundings and discovering many elusive objects, such as brown dwarf stars.”
The second look at this region, shows us several hot young stars, but with even closer inspection reveals the curious features around even younger stars within their cocoons of dust.
That was worth the second look! Now there is something I would like you also to take a second look at.
I would like you to read a comment posted today by Space Place member Michael Uberty about “Parallel Universes, A Memoir from the Edges of Space and Time,” which by the way is back on Amazon.com in paperback version. Michael writes, “I'm halfway through Parallel Universes, I smile, I'm sad, I frustrated, I'm angry,I'm happy. A trip through many Universes!” I responded to Michael just a short time ago, “Michael, thank you! If there is enough interest in the book, Canada will perhaps be inclined to acknowledge what happened back then and honor the children who died.” Does that sound like the memoir you haven’t yet decided to read? I urge you, it is worth a second look! http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Universes-Memoir-Edges-Space/dp/0615548814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325637193&sr=8-1
December 31, 2011
It is the way of this universe, this life and death captured in 2010, just released, by the Chandra and XXM-Newton Telescopes http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/sxp1062/sxp1062.jpg X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al & ESA/XMM-Newton; Optical: AURA/NOAO/CTIO/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al
On the left, a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, on the right a star death, the first pulsar discovered in a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Even the star death will teach us a great deal. We shall learn why such a young pulsar, as we see it now, could have such a short period; what indeed is slowing down this once massive star, whose core is now a neutron star, moving toward silence in death at long last as its pulse slows. It has a hot, massive companion and this X-ray pulsar is the slowest known in this satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. We will try to understand how such a young neutron star which is currently a pulsar is losing its energy so rapidly.
The way of the universe is mapped out before us and we observe the evolution of objects. We attempt to learn from the cycles of the universe, which we are without doubt a part of. We learn about the life to death and life from death over periods of time that dwarf our lifespans as human beings, but we want to know, and we want to survive in terms which also dwarf our individual lifespans. What we see, we sense has relevance to us, as small and as much as one heartbeat our entire existence seems in this incalculably vast universe.
I would like you to first watch the video http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=125774121 and then view the side by side pictures http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111231.html and realize that what I love most about this is the fact that from Earth, one of the things captures in the image of space in the left picture is us. Yes, that’s us in the International Space Station, human beings in that point of light among the stars and places where comets “fly.”
This year, I pray that we not forget the role of science, exploration, and space research in our very future and survival upon this tiny world, one of countless numbers of trillions in this universe of ours. Should we believe that we as human beings are special in some way in this universe, or alone, or immune from the things we see affect other worlds, stars, galaxies in this universe, we are mistaken. We are important only should we seek to explore, to learn, to improve the human condition for our children, to strive to contribute to this universe in some important way that puts the best of what we are forward.
Should we believe that interests that only serve to advance us on this Earth, while ignoring the larger aspects of our existence, are important, we may go as countless other civilizations have likely gone. Should we want our existence to leave an imprint of meaning in this universe too vast for us to even comprehend, we will want to embrace the higher causes of advancement of knowledge and the human condition through exploration, the caring for children through education and cherishing of their well being, and the embracement of the awareness that certainly a power much higher than any we now understand has brought forth a universe, one or many. If we are humbled by what we see, what we learn, and what we do not yet understand, that perspective will lead us forward into the light of wisdom and knowledge.
Happy New Year to all the members of the Space Place from Dave and me! In the support of our quest to learn abut the universe around us, please invite your friends all over the world to join us here.
December 30, 2011
Space Place members, a salute to a moon of a planet in our solar system, which has a great deal of meaning to me. Io. If you can make it through this lengthy text, then there is a reward at the end. Please enjoy the images http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01667.jpg Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona highlighting Pele, whose plume was enhanced through processing I did on my mini-computer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory on 9 March, 1979, and http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~perry/io_images/10ISIOGLOC03.png Credit Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Jason Perry.
Earth-based observations and observations from spacecraft have shown more than 150 active volcanoes on Io. However, these observations show evidence for up to 400 such volcanoes. Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system. Overall, the three different types of volcanic eruptions on Io have been determined by factors such as differences in duration and intensity, or whether or not the eruptions takes place within a volcanic pit known as a patera.
Just prior to the NASA’s Voyager 1 encounter of Jupiter, Stanton Peale and colleagues published a paper in Science predicting a volcanically active Io. They believed that a massive amount of heat was produced by the varying tidal pull of Jupiter on Io, which resulted from Io’s orbital eccentricity. Their prediction was correct. Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Linda A. Morabito, Voyager Navigation Engineer, discovered Io’s Pele eruption on March 9, 1979. The Pele plume was seen rising 270 km above the surface of Io, beyond Io’s limb. The tidal heating on Io depends upon an orbital resonance with two of its sister moons, Europa and Ganymede, which prevents Io’s orbit from settling into a circular orbit. Instead the eccentricity of Io’s orbit is maintained, and a vertical difference in Io’s tidal bulge when it is closest to Jupiter and farthest away from Jupiter produces heat generated by friction in Io’s interior. This heat is released on Io through volcanism. On Earth, however, internal heat generated by radioactive isotope decay and left over heat from formation, drives mantle convection, which in turn causes volcanism through plate tectonics.
Flows which radiate from Ra Patera on Io reveal liquid sulfur at different temperatures; dark material close to the vent at highest temperature, cooling slightly to red material further out, and orange material farthest from the vent. But, were the eruptions silicate dominated or sulfur dominated? Measurements of temperature at bright eruption points on Io in the 1980s revealed temperatures higher than the boiling point of sulfur, indicating a silicate composition for at least some of Io’s lava flows. Silicate volcanism was confirmed by NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s and 2000s. Still, sulfur and sulfur dioxide do play a significant role in Io’s volcanism. Sulfur is a primary constituent of Pele-type plumes, and some bright flows on Io are suggestive of sulfur dioxide volcanism.
Intra-patera eruptions on Io occur within volcanic depressions called paterae. Tupan Patera on Io is an example of a patera. Paterae appear similar to calderas, which form on Earth. However, it is not yet known if they form when an empty lava chamber collapses, as calderas do on Earth. Additionally, paterae do not lie at the peak of shield volcanoes as similar features on Earth and even Mars do. Some do, however, show evidence of multiple collapses such as certain similar features on Earth or Mars, suggesting they may under some circumstances form like caldera. The largest such depression on Io is Loki Patera at 202 km. This type of eruption on Io can take the form of lava flows spreading across the floor of paterae or lava lakes.
Culann Patera is an example of flow-dominated eruptions on Io. Flow-dominated eruptions on Io are long-lived and build up extensive, compound lava flows. These inflated, compound lava flows are similar to those seen at Kilauea in Hawaii. They are created on Io when magma emerges onto the surface from vents on the floor of paterae or vents surround paterae, or from fissures on the plains of Io. They differ from the third type of eruptions on Io, which are explosion-dominated, by their longevity and their lower effusion rate (output of energy per unit time.) These eruptions can last for years or decades. Active flow fields more than 300 km long have been observed on Io, and active lava breakouts have been observed at locations tens to hundreds of kilometers from the source vents, likely traveling through lava tubes from the source vent. Some of these eruptions may have steady eruption rates, while larger outbreaks of lava have been observed at many of these flow-dominated eruption sites. On average, the flow rate at these compound flow fields is much greater than at similar lava flows on Earth today.
Explosive-dominated eruptions on Io have short duration (weeks to months) and rapid onset, as well as large flow rates. The most powerful volcanic eruption ever witnessed was on Io, observed from Earth on February 22, 2001, and was an explosive-dominated eruption! These eruptions happen when magma from deep within Io’s mantle reaches the surface at a fissure. Lava fountains, such as the Pele eruption, emerge. Outburst eruptions at Tvashtar Patera (in 1999 and 2007) centered around a lava curtain 2.5 km long and 1 km tall. It was produced at a small patera nested inside the larger Tvashtar Paterae complex. The lave fountain stage of these eruptions may only last a few days to a week, but these kinds of eruptions continue in a voluminous silicate lava flow for weeks to months. Dramatic, but often short-lived changes around the eruption site from plume surface deposits can often take place. In time (months or years), however, the region around the vents will revert back to pre-eruption appearance. The most common types of plumes on Io are dust plumes produced when lava flows vaporize underlying sulfur dioxide frost. The largest of Io’s plumes are created when sulfur and sulfur dioxide gas exsolve from erupting magma at volcanic vents or lava lakes, carrying silicate pyroclastic material with them. These largest plumes are usually associated with explosion-dominated eruptions and are short-lived. However, the first discovered plume on Io, Pele, was this type of eruption and is associated with a long-lived active lava lake eruption, and is therefore long-lived, although intermittent.
Okay, your reward for all that reading. “This Spitzer image transforms a dark cloud into a silky translucent veil, revealing the stellar winds from an otherwise hidden newborn star called HH46-IR. Spitzer's remarkable capacity to peer through cosmic dust allowed it to unveil this never-before-seen star.” Enjoy! Happy New Year from Dave and me to Space Place members all over the world! http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/54344main_hh46_47.highres.jpg Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As per Spitzer, “This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nebula nicknamed "the Dragonfish." This turbulent region, jam-packed with stars, is home to some of the most luminous massive stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It is located approximately 30,000 light-years away in the Crux constellation.
“The massive stars have blown a bubble in the gas and dust, carving out a shell of more than 100 light-years across (seen in lower, central part of image). This shell forms the "toothy mouth" of the Dragonfish, and the two bright spots make it up its beady eyes.
“The infrared light in this region is coming from the gas and dust that are being heated up by the unseen central cluster of massive stars. “The bright spots along the shell, including the "eyes," are possible smaller regions of newly formed stars, triggered by the compression of the gas and dust by winds from the central, massive stars.”
We honor birth and the creation of new life throughout our universe, as grand and as glorious as any of us as human beings can envision. On this night of peace, new hope and new discovery, Dave and I wish all the members of the Space Place a beautiful eve.
Also view the star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 2,400 massive stars in the center of 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula nebula. Multimillion-degree gas detected in X-rays (blue) by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory comes from shock fronts -- similar to sonic booms -- formed by these stellar winds and by supernova explosions. This hot gas carves out gigantic bubbles in the surrounding cooler gas and dust shown here in infrared light from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (orange).”
Now we begin in earnest to view the many places in our universe that could indeed take our breath away! http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/screen/opo0036a.jpg Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA), George Herbig and Theodore Simon (University of Hawaii). We have talked about new life coming to stars both helping bring more new stellar and planetary life, and ...stopping the process of nebula collapse into building more stars.
A cold dense region in the area of the young Pleiades cluster is far too close to one of its members, Merope. Merope (upper right) is bombarding the cold dense dusty region from which a star might have been brought to life with intense radiation.
And so ends the chance of this nebula with dust particles slowed by the radiation and a reflection of the predator cast in blue from its dark clouds, tendrils outreached as if to the potential it once had, to have brought for the kind of life forward that is taking this potential away.
The story of a universe in constant change, constant enrichment, constant destruction, and ever wondrous, as we visit the most spectacular regions in this glorious universe.
December 21, 2011
We have been gifted. This is the Season of Light and the universe gifts us daily with an existence that is beyond even our ability to describe beyond the scientific terms.
We are also gifted with an insight that is nearly beyond imagination. The Juno spacecraft will be seeking to identify if Jupiter has a solid core. A solid core could mean that Jupiter accreted that core from the condensed rock, metal, and ices in the outer solar system as the star that powers our existence was forming and the remaining disk material from the original nebula which formed us was yielding planets, in this way. If Jupiter does not have a solid core, then perhaps it collapsed directly from the solar nebula. No one, until now, has envisioned however that a solid core, should it exist may now be liquefying. Take a look http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/jupiter-core-solid-liquid/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29
Shall we open the largest gift last? Let’s! Take a look at the only planet smaller than the Earth ever to be discovered. http://kepler.nasa.gov/images/Kepler20e.jpg This artist’s conception of our gift is described by NASA as follows:
“This is an artist's conception of Kepler-20e, the first planet smaller than the Earth discovered to orbit a star other than the sun. A year on Kepler-20e only lasts 6 days, as it is much closer to its host star than the Earth is to the sun. The temperature at the surface of the planet, around 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, would melt glass—much to hot to support life, as we know it.
”Kepler-20e is likely to be entirely rocky and without an atmosphere. The planet is tidally locked, always showing the same side to its host star, as the moon to the Earth, and could have large temperature differences between its permanent night and day sides.
”Astronomers think that the planet is likely to be geologically active, due to its own formation process and the strong gravitational interactions with its host star. In this artistic depiction, the planet is represented with active volcanoes on both the night and day sides.
”Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech “
Another planet slightly larger than Earth, is its sibling, and yet another three orbit as do the Earth-sized worlds within the orbit of Mercury of their Sun-like star. Here is our gift put in perspective http://kepler.nasa.gov/images/Kepler20PlanetLineup.jpg
“This chart compares the first Earth-size planets found around a sun-like star to planets in our own solar system, Earth and Venus.NASA's Kepler mission discovered the newfound planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus with a radius .87 times that of Earth. Kepler-20f is a bit larger than Earth at 1.03 times the radius of Earth. Venus is very similar in size to Earth, with a radius of .95 times that our planet. The images of Kepler-20e and f are artist conceptions.
”Prior to this discovery, the smallest known planet orbiting a sun-like star was Kepler-10b with a radius of 1.42 that of Earth, which translates to 2.9 times the volume.
”Both Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f circle in close to their star, called Kepler-20, with orbital periods of 6.1 and 19.6 days, respectively. Astronomers say the two little planets are rocky like Earth but with scorching temperatures.
”Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech “
So many exoplanets which have been discovered are not Earth-sized. Too big. These worlds are the right size to be compared to Earth. Yet, these worlds are too hot.
In what way have we been gifted? Pretty soon, a Kepler planet will be referred to as just right. Our gift is that many millions if not billions of Earth analogs (other planets like Earth with atmospheres and liquid water on their surfaces) will be soon found. With each new Earth-like world seen, our place in this universe will become much clearer than ever before. Why do we explore? To return home and know this place for the first time.
May you enjoy all the blessings of this Season of Light!
Wishing all our members a wonderful day on the Space Place!
December 15, 2011
How ironic that Hubble offers us what they call a snow angel. This snow angel is neither cold nor angelic. That is, if one’s definition of angelic is calm, contemplative, and serene. Violent birth and violent death are what is mandated in the life of this angel.
But, the challenges of coming to life and of death as well, are part of the universe on cosmic and personal scales. To be born, this star is accumulating material from a once cold and dense region of a molecular cloud, which collapsed to form the star, and light the fire which will power it.
As per Wired, “The star, named S106 IR, has a mass of about 15 times that of our sun and lies approximately 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Formed from a cloud of gas and dust with more than 25,000 times the sun’s mass, the star is just about to mature and settle down to what astronomers call the main sequence portion of its life, where it will glow steadily like our sun.”
What appear to be wings are jets of material coming from the poles of the star, and slamming into the hydrogen that surrounds the birthing star, creating cavities there, with glowing gasses left in intricate patterns in the voids, glowing from the excitation from the star’s intense ultraviolet radiation. At the tips of the wings, shock waves, from the material accelerated to unimaginable speeds, as it slams into the medium around the star; all this, the birth announcement of a newly forming fusion engine of the universe.
And what a star, more massive and much larger than our average Sun can ever aspire to be. Its life will be short, certainly too short to form beings like us in the planets accreting in the leftover material in the disk around the star. Soon the star will clear the material from its system, halting the growth of its planets. Soon the star will shine with stable brightness, and then soon again, it will die.
A supernova will mark its death, reminding us through the angel’s wings of the star’s birth, and the massive explosion that will mark its death, that nothing in this universe is isolated from its surroundings. The cosmic progression continues and the violence that we find in evolution holds both beauty and potential for more life.
I believe I will rethink this. I believe Hubble truly has brought us an angel.
December 14, 2011
I am loving this! Preliminary results from the search for the Higgs boson.
How important is this?
We are reaching, hand extended into a glimpse of our universe that is very much needed. We are looking below the surface, to see what is there. Where do the subatomic particles get their masses? Is there a field that permeates empty space which interacts with subatomic particles and “slows” them or appears to give them mass?
A preliminary indication from the large Large Hadron Collider says there may be an indication the boson exists. What does that mean if it does? Does that mean that the standard model of physics is on track? Or does it alternatively mean that supersymmetry is correct, which predicts that all particles have more massive and yet unseen counterparts? Or is the preliminary indication more in line with string theory, an extension of supersymmetry?
The implications range from the need to throw out the standard model or add to it, to filling in the final open areas of an electroweak field, which at some point in the universe’s beginning, joined the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force together, thus establishing that the trail up ahead may indeed join three of the forces in the universe together even earlier in that beginning of the universe, and maybe four forces at the first instances of our existence! The theory of everything!
The implications of finding the boson in a certain energy range, or not finding it at all, or finding more than one Higgs boson will tell us much! It will tell us why more matter than antimatter is created in particle collisions, why we, made of matter are here. The implications expand our horizons of understanding, even to dark matter, but in a profoundly ironic sense, it is the quest downward rather than upward in our understanding that I deem is enhanced.
We are delving into what is beneath the surface and therein might lay a new foundation of theoretical understanding, the implications of which cannot even be envisioned now. Perhaps our new understandings will tell us why the distances in space appear to be so easily overcome by a universe which is inter-related regardless of cosmic proportions; perhaps we shall understand why contact with extraterrestrials has not been achieved in the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum we are searching to be “Wowed!”
This is wildly speculative on my part. But, indeed perhaps what is below the surface is a door, not before envisioned, through which intelligent beings pass; and then begin to truly understand the nature of the universe in which they appeared to be born.
Please do let your friends know about our Space Place’s current series of images that will be posted daily to bring the glory of this universe to you visually during this Season. This image from 1999 does not have the resolution yet that ESO is famous for via adaptive optics, but it is beautiful in the resolution I have posted today. As per ESO, it is a sky area near the Chamaeleon I complex of bright nebulae and hot stars in the constellation of Chamealeon, close to the southern celestial pole. Image Credit: ESO.
Also, do enjoy a morsel which will be falling into our galaxy’s supermassive black hole soon! This is fun, and really stretches the imagination if you can forgive the play on words. http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann11083/
Wishing all our members a wonderful day!
December 11, 2011
Space Place members, a lot to report here.
First, we are entering the season where we will begin to concentrate on very beautiful images of the cosmos. So, you will not want to miss a single post here.
Finals at the college end this coming week and at that time posts will be coming thick and fast here on our Space Place. Today’s image begins that process. Second, I have secured new permissions from several of the science magazine giants for some of the pictures in “Parallel Universes, A Memoir from the Edges of Space and Time.” In that regard, updated permissions will be uploaded to the hard copy book on Amazon.com the first of the year.
The limited print run of Parallel Universes is now available on Amazon.com. The new print run will begin after the first week in January.
I do not know of another book, which was built on Amazon.com as a Kindle book, in real time, with free updates. (See Wikipedia’s entry for this book.) We expect 2012 to be the year of “Parallel Universes, A Memoir from the Edges of Space and Time,” and the limited print run of the paperback book available now will be a collector’s edition. Those who hold the book in the form it is in now, will be one of only one hundred authorized copies available as is. (If we exceed that amount, the new edition will be uploaded sooner.) Be sure to pick your copy up now while they last. http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Universes-Memoir-Edges-Space/dp/0615548814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323628156&sr=8-1
Now to our current post. Want to see a giant star die?
“This heroic image from WISE is of a special cloud of dust and gas in the constellation Canis Major catalogued as NGC 2359. The nebula is more commonly known as Thor's Helmet due to its remarkable resemblance to depictions of the headwear donned by the famed Norse god of thunder and lightning.
“Powering Thor’s Helmet is HD 56925, a highly luminous "Wolf-Rayet" star (seen at the center of the helmet). These kinds of stars are massive; from 10 to 80 times the mass of our Sun. Such stars are often associated with bright nebulae, many of which appear to be spherical bubbles with the Wolf-Rayet star at the center. It is thought that the progenitors of these stars are either red supergiants or luminous blue variable stars, both of which slowly shed matter as they age. Once the star enters its Wolf-Rayet phase its strong, fast stellar wind sweeps up the surrounding debris left by the original star and even gathers up interstellar matter from its environment. It literally blows a bubble in space. These hot stars become 200,000 times more luminous than the Sun. They flood the nebula with ultraviolet light that ionizes much of the gaseous material leading to the bright emission in visible light. Interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to the more complex shape and curved bow-shock structure of Thor's Helmet.”
Now take a look at the death of a low mass star, like our Sun compared to this amazing massive dying star. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0903/Thor4Andreo.jpg Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359) and Planetary Nebula Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo, Ray Gralak The idea is to zero in on the lower left hand corner of this image and see the faint circular planetary nebula, the final beauty of a low mass dying star, and to compare that to the size and the appearance of the massive "Wolf-Rayet" star at the center of the helmet.
Part 1 of our tour through the breathtaking universe in which we live, this Christmas Season! Happy Holidays to all our Space Place members and sit back and enjoy.
Space Place members, first, こんにちは、日本からの友人！ようこそ！私の本の名前は、パラレルユニバース、空間と時間のエッジからの回顧録です。で私の本を買うhttps://www.createspace.com/3696111ここでは、宇宙の探査を学ぶ。何かを書きたいなら、私が書いたものにコメントすることがあります。どうもありがとうございました！
Japan does something that I love, which is to present a science documentary show three times during the week, so that people may watch it according to their schedules. I often wish we would do that here, with announcements in advance of when certain shows will repeat during the week. I realize some networks do that, but wish more of it was done here, with more than two showings per week. I do not know if members of the public in Japan can find their way here, but we shall see.
Next, what shall we call them? The billions of other planets like Earth, we shall find in our galaxy alone. One of them has a name now, Kepler 22b, what names for the others? How fitting Kepler is within this name, for that mission has opened up the possibilities of the existence of other worlds like Earth and put numbers to them, just as Kepler did so long ago specifically in regards to how the planets orbit stars, when he formulated his three laws of planetary motion. He did not know why his laws worked, just that mathematically they did. It took Newton a while to give the name of gravity to the science behind this work. We shall move ahead, and know more of Earth analogs that exist and perhaps realize one day, how many forms of life are searching in first steps, for analogs to their own worlds and themselves. Illustration Credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111207.html
Space Place members, Monday in the afternoon local time here, NHK will present its Voyager science program in Japan (Tuesday there at 9 PM). In case some of the viewers find their way here, we are welcoming them to the Space Place! The program looks to be a fine one. Preview it at http://www.nhk.or.jp/space/program/cosmic.html whether or not you translate the page. I am looking forward to seeing it. Note the previous topics of this documentary show called Cosmic Front. They have indeed, covered many of today’s most interesting space science topics!
We are sending a spacecraft Juno to Jupiter again to find out how it formed in our own solar system. Did it come into being via collapse of the same solar nebula that created the Sun? Or did it accrete from the left over material in the disk around the protostar?
New finds by Caltech scientists may steal a little of Juno’s thunder, as with the recent announcement of 18 new Jupiter size planets http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/315459, come the correlation to the abundance of these giant worlds with the masses of their stars.
In the case of the recent finds, they orbit A spectral type stars, in fact those that are dying, but still on the main sequence of the HR diagram. There seems to be a dependence of these massive planets on the abundance of material around such a massive star. Hence, it appears as if Juno may find that our Jupiter accreted as well.
This would give the giant world a solid core likely, made large enough with condensed rock, metal, and ices, to attract the massive gasses that these planets do. Our hats are off to the Caltech scientists for their finds and the growing picture of the formation of giant planets they represent.
December 2, 2011
Space Place members, thank you so much for your patience between posts. We are approaching finals and the work schedule is very hectic.
I am concentrating on the center of Centaurus A, an Active Galactic Nuclei, as pictured here from APOD, because we have been talking about dark matter in class very recently.
Take a close look at a galaxy center of 1 billion times the mass of the Sun, harbored in the center of Centaurus A in the form of a supermassive black hole. It does not get any better than this! http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1111/cenA2_hst_3989.jpg Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration; Acknowledgement: R. O'Connell (U. Virginia)
Why did the galaxies come together, exceeding one hundred billion in the part of our universe visible to us, alone. Never mind those parts beyond which the light cannot reach us, and those universes which may be parallel to our own.
Scientists attribute the formation of the galaxies to the existence of dark matter. We have spent a great deal of time on the Space Place concentrating on “seeing” dark matter, as researchers have in the bullet nebula, and other galaxy cluster collisions. Basically in the collisions the galaxy clusters’ respective intracluster gasses separate from the luminous matter. The clusters pass through the collision, but their gas slows from forces during the collision. Since the intracluster gasses outmass the cluster’s stars by 7 times, all of the mass via collision should be concentrated in the gasses. But, that is not what is found. Dark matter, now separated from the gasses weighs in at up to 55 times the mass of the stars. And here, through gravitational lensing effects of so much mass, astronomers see the presence of what cannot otherwise be seen, dark matter.
Now, too, however, there might be another signature of these invisible WIMPs (Weakly Interactive Massive Particles.) The search is on for these weakly interactive particles and it would sure help to know just how massive they are! According to a November 23 article on Wired.com, it is possible that the signature of destroyed dark matter has been observed. First, “in 2008, the Italian satellite PAMELA picked up an unusual signal: a spike in antimatter particles whizzing through space.”
As the article continues, “now, new data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope confirm the spike.” Here’s what’s going on: Scientists believe that dark matter WIMPs are essentially their own anti-matter, and thus annihilate one another when they collide. What is produced is an electron and its antimatter counterpart, a positron. Wired states they should each have the equivalent mass-energy of the original dark matter particles involved. That would get a handle on the mass of dark matter.
What scientists are looking for is “a steady rise of positrons over a given range of energies, followed by a sudden drop-off.” The drop off would indicate the upper mass limit of a dark matter particle. However, the new Fermi data neither shows the drop off nor can it confirm the positron abundance it has seen as being from annihilating WIMPs. Its data suggests that the abundance of positrons it has detected could indeed continue to rise above the energy levels Fermi measured. So, no sudden drop off and therefore non-conclusive evidence of the source of the positrons. But, if one has caught a mysteriously notorious person in a photograph, whose appearance has never been actually seen before, it could take quite a while and more investigating to conclusively identify them in a picture. The idea here is not to throw the picture away, and to envision the day when such observations may come to be conclusively regarded as having captured one of the most elusive entities in the universe.
Dave has a couple more great finds that he has provided to us, and I will summarize them in a comment below. Be sure to view these as well! Thanks so much Dave! Wishing all our members a wonderful weekend!
