Magnificent View of Spiral Galaxy Messier 77

The Spiral galaxy Messier 77, 47 million light-years away and found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster) is captured in its full glory by the European Southern Observatory.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. The image does justice to the galaxy’s beauty, showcasing its glittering arms criss-crossed with dust lanes — but it fails to betray Messier 77’s turbulent nature.

This picturesque spiral galaxy appears to be tranquil, but there is more to it than meets the eye. Messier 77 (also known as NGC 1068) is one of the closest active galaxies, which are some of the most energetic and spectacular objects in the Universe. Their nuclei are often bright enough to outshine the whole of the rest of the galaxy. Active galaxies are among the brightest objects in the Universe and emit light at most, if not all, wavelengths, from gamma rays and X-rays all the way to microwaves and radiowaves. Messier 77 is further classified as a Type II Seyfert galaxy, characterised by being particularly bright at infrared wavelengths.

Clean Dwarf Galaxy Help Chart Universe

The image above is of IC 1613, a dwarf galaxy that is found in the Cetus constellation.

IC 1613 is unique in that unlike other galaxies, this dwarf galaxy contains very little cosmic dust which allows a clearer exploration of what is inside it. Cosmic dust is made of various heavier elements, such as carbon and iron, as well as larger, grainier molecules. Not only does dust block out light, making dust-shrouded objects harder to see, it also preferentially scatters bluer light. As a result, cosmic dust makes objects appear redder when seen through telescopes than they are in reality. Astronomers can factor out this reddening when studying objects. Still, the less reddening, the more precise an observation is likely to be.

IC 1613 also contains two types of stars, Cepheid variables and RR Lyrae variables. These type of stars rhythmically pulsate, growing characteristically bigger and brighter at fixed intervals and are used to measure galactic distances.

Galaxies come in different sizes. Our galaxy, The Milky Way, is a regular sized galaxy which contains 200 to 400 billion stars. There are smaller galaxies like the dwarf galaxy which only has several billion stars inside it. Dwarf galaxies like IC 1613, are small and have been observed to be pulled toward and merge with nearby spiral galaxies.

The OmegaCam was used to capture the image above. The OmegaCAM is a 32-CCD, 256-million-pixel camera mounted on the 2.6-metre VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile.

ESO Studying Mysterious Dwarf Galaxy Formed After Cosmic Collision

The European Southern Observatory used its Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory to take detailed images of NGC 5291. NGC 5291 is located in the constellation of Centaurus. NGC 5291 is an elliptical galaxy that collided with another galaxy over 360 million years ago.

As a result of the collision, a dwarf galaxy was also formed; NGC 5291N. Astronomers have particular interest with this dwarf galaxy because according to their data, NGC 5291N mysteriously contains no old stars.

Centered in the image above is NGC 5291. Also seen is the Seashell Galaxy (MCG-05-33-005), a comma-shaped galaxy which appears to leech off NGC 5291’s luminous core. On the right side of the image is NGC 5291N. The dwarf galaxy was observed using MUSE's integral field spectrography.

The MUSE observations revealed unexpected oxygen and hydrogen emission lines in the outskirts of NGC 5291N.

A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy containing less stars than a regular galaxy. It is usually composed of up to several billion stars. A regular galaxy like the Milky Way has 200 to 400 billion stars. Since these dwarf galaxies are small, they have been observed to be pulled toward and merge with nearby spiral galaxies. The Milky Way is believed to be a result of a build up of several dwarf galaxies.

Image of Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy Captured By ESO

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in this new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their close proximity, both galaxies have very distinct histories and characters. This galaxy is much smaller and older than the Milky Way, making it a valuable subject for studying both star and galaxy formation in the early Universe. However, due to its faintness, studying this object is no easy task.

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy — also known as the Sculptor Dwarf Elliptical or the Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal — is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, and is one of the fourteen known satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. This is not to be confused with the similarly named and much brighter Sculptor Galaxy which is located in the same constellation of Sculptor.

A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars. A regular galaxy like the Milky Way has 200 to 400 billion stars. Since these dwarf galaxies are small, they have been observed to be pulled toward and merge with nearby spiral galaxies.

Studying How Galaxy Collisions Affect Star Production

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is studying the relationship between colliding galaxies and star formation.

Looking beyond the common belief, that star production is faster when two galaxies collide, scientists at ICRAR believe that this is only true if the two galaxies are of similar mass. They theorize that if one galaxy is more massive than the other, the smaller of the galaxies generate less stars while the other has an increase production of it.

They explain that the reason for the unequal production of stars from two galaxies of different mass is because the bigger galaxy strips away its smaller galaxy's gas from its gas clouds which is a primary component for star production.

Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) To Study Dark Matter

Using imaging from the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and its huge camera, the OmegaCAM, the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) aims to study and understand the relationship between dark matter and galaxies.

Astronomers theorize that dark matter which comprises 85% of all matter in the universe is what holds galaxies together. Without dark matter, galaxies would fling themselves apart while they rotate. Dark matter keeps these galaxies together due to the constraining effect of gravity.

The best way to work out where the dark matter lies is through gravitational lensing — the distortion of the Universe's fabric by gravity, which deflects the light coming from distant galaxies far beyond the dark matter. By studying this effect it is possible to map out the places where gravity is strongest, and hence where the matter, including dark matter, resides.

The survey studies the distortion of light emitted from galaxies. This light bends as it passes through massive clumps of dark matter while reaching the Earth. From the gravitational lensing effect, these groups turn out to contain around 30 times more dark than visible matter.

The image above shows a group of galaxies mapped by KiDS. On the right side, the image shows the same area of sky as in the left, but with the invisible dark matter rendered in pink.

Link Discovered Between Supernova Explosion and Powerful Magnetic Field From Magnetar

La Silla and Paranal Observatories in Chile have found a connection between a very long-lasting burst of gamma rays and an unusually bright supernova explosion. Previous belief was that radioactive decay was the reason behind these kind of explosions. Latest findings show that this particular supernova explosion was triggered by decaying super-strong magnetic fields around a magnetar.

The discovery was aided by Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector (GROND) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla and also with the X-shooter instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal. GROND is an imaging instrument to investigate Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows and other transients while the X-shooter is a three armed multi-wavelength, medium resolution spectrograph.

Magnetars are tiny neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and has a magnetic field much stronger than normal neutron stars (also known as radio pulsars). Magnetars are thought to develop magnetic field strengths that are 100 to 1000 times greater than those seen in pulsars. These objects are believed to be the strongest magnetised objects in the Universe.

This discovery marks the first time to link magnetars and supernovas.

Extremely Powerful Magnetic Field Detected At Edge of Supermassive Black Hole

A very powerful magnetic field has been detected at the edge of a supermassive black hole in the distant PKS 1830-211 galaxy.

The magnetic field is far more powerful than anything previously detected in the core of a galaxy.

Supermassive black hole are found at the center of almost all the galaxies and are a million times more massive than the Sun. These black holes accrete (come or bring together under the influence of gravitation) vast amounts of matter in the form of a disc. This matter is sucked in the black hole but some escape and are flung out into space at close to the speed of light as part of a jet of plasma.

This discovery can help astronomers understand the structure and formation of supermassive black holes and the the twin high-speed jets of plasma they frequently eject from their poles.

The artist's impression show accretion of matter forming a brilliant hot disk around the black hole. There are also often high-speed jets of material ejected at the black hole’s poles that can extend huge distances into space. Observations with ALMA have detected a very strong magnetic field close to the black hole at the base of the jets and this is probably involved in jet production and collimation.

Spheroid Galaxies Shut Down Star Formation From Inside Out

Astronomers have shown for the first time how star formation in “dead” galaxies sputtered out billions of years ago. ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have revealed that three billion years after the Big Bang, these galaxies still made stars on their outskirts, but no longer in their interiors. The quenching of star formation seems to have started in the cores of the galaxies and then spread to the outer parts. The results will be published in the 17 April 2015 issue of the journal Science.

Spheroid galaxies are elliptical shaped galaxies and are common in the Universe. The center of these galaxies are densely packed with stars; about then times more than in the Milky Way.

Observing 22 galaxies , spanning a range of masses, from an era about three billion years after the Big Bang, the researchers noted that the galaxies were still producing stars at the outskirts but not in the center. The Star formation in the bulging center slowed down and stopped starting at the center of the galaxies and spread outwards towards the edges.

Dark Matter Interactions Observed in Galaxy Collision at Abell 3827

While studying the simultaneous collision of four galaxies in the galaxy cluster Abell 3827, the European Southern Observatory's VLT and NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope may have, for the first time, observed dark matter interactions with other dark matter.

The nature of dark matter is still a mystery but it is believed that it comprises 85% of the Universe’s mass; the rest being "normal matter". Without dark matter, galaxies would not be able to hold itself together and would fling themselves apart while they rotate. Dark matter keeps these galaxies together due to the constraining effect of its' gravity.

Researches observed that during the collision, one clump of dark matter appeared to be lagging behind the galaxy it surrounds. The dark matter is currently 5000 light-years behind the galaxy.

Dark matter has always been observed interacting with gravity but the computer simulation of the four galaxy collision at Abell 3827 show that extra friction from the collision would slow down dark matter and that the nature of that interaction is not gravity and still is unknown. It is also uncertain how long it took for the collision to happen.The friction that slowed the dark matter could have been a very weak force acting over about a billion years, or a relatively stronger force acting for “only” 100 million years.

Cometary Globule CG4 (God's Hand) Imaged by VLT

The VLT Survey Telescope, the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light, imaged cometary globule CG4 or God's Hand as it is also known.

Cometary globules are faint, dimly lit, and hard to detect gas clouds that resemble comets although they have no relation to them. Cometary globules are identified by their small size and are found to have isolated, relatively small clouds of neutral gas and dust surrounded by hot ionised material.

It is a mystery to astronomers as to how cometary globules are formed.

God's Hand is 1300 light years from Earth and can be found in the constellation Puppis (The Poop, or Stern). CG4 gas a diameter if 1.5 light years and its tail is 8 light years long. Compared to other celestial objects, the dimensions of CG4 are small.

This picture comes from the ESO Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Parkes Radio Telescope Receives Unexplained Fast Radio Burst From Space

Since 2007, astronomers have been trying to find an explanation for Fast Radio Bursts. These are brief bursts of radio waves which last only a few milliseconds. There have been seven records of this event but has not been observed live as it is happening.

A team of astronomers in Australia, using the Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, developed a technique on how to capture this phenomenon and have succeeded in observing a live fast radio burst from space.

By coordinating with the Swift space telescope and the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma, they pinpoint the source of the radio waves to be around 5.5 billion light years from Earth. It was also noted that the energy emitted by these millisecond long fast radio bursts is equal to the energy the Sun gives out in a single day.

Although they have no explanation on what these events are and what causes them, they theorize that it might be connected to neutron stars or black holes.

The results of their findings have been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) To Hunt and Study Exoplanets

The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), a wide-field observing system by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) was launched and has achieved first light.

The Survey will focus on transiting exoplanets or planets that passes in front of their parent star. This movement by the exoplanets produces a slight dimming of the light emitted by the stars which can be detected by light sensitive instruments. The telescopes of NGTS will be focusing on discovering Neptune-sized and smaller planets, with diameters between two and eight times that of Earth.

The Next-Generation Transit Survey is located at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. The site benefits from the superb observing conditions and its excellent support facilities.

The NGTS telescopes are made up of an array of 12 modified versions of small high-quality commercial telescopes made by Astro Systeme Austria (ASA). Each has an aperture of 20 centimeters. The NGTS cameras are modified ikon-L cameras by Andor Technology Ltd built around red-sensitive deep-depletion CCDs by e2v.

The NGTS was made possible by a consortium comprised of the UK, Switzerland, and Germany.

Pulsar Disappears After Space-Time Warp Measured

Scientists have measured the space-time warp in the gravity of binary pulsar system J1906 and determined the mass of its neutron star before the pulsar vanished from view.

A binary pulsar system is comprised of a pulsar that is orbiting a binary companion which is usually a white dwarf or neutron star. In the case of Binary Pulsar J1906, the scientists have measured the solar mass of the accompanying neutron star to be 1.32 solar mass with a sphere only 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) across.

J1906 is the youngest double neutron star system whose mass has been measured.

The spin axis of the pulsar wobbles like a spinning top. Since the distance of the two neutron stars in J1906 is very close and each star weighs more than the Sun, the space-time between the stars is curved which affects the pulsar's spin axis. The wobble has been so much that the pulsar's beams no longer hit the Earth, making it disappear from sight.

It is expected that the pulsar will be visible again in 160 years.

A pulsar is a neutron star that formed when a massive star's core is compressed during a supernova. The supernova collapses the star's core and forms the neutron star. Pulsars are extermely dense and highly magnetized. They rotate and emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation which is picked up as radio waves in the form of pulses. The name pulsar is abbreviated from the term "pulsating star".

Ongoing Assassin Project Has Detected 89 Supernovas To Date

Ohio State University reported that their All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN, pronounced "assassin") project has had tremendous success in detecting supernovas (supernovae). Since May 2014, ASAS-SN has detected 89 supernovae which is more than all other professional astronomical surveys combined.

The survey uses six 6-inch telescopes located in Hawaii (4) and in Chile (2). Amateurs worldwide has also volunteered their time and equipment to ASAS-SN. ASAS-SN covers the nearest 500 million light years around the Milky Way Galaxy which is about 1 percent of the observable universe.

According to the astronomists, ASAS-SN complements the work done by big telescopes since these telescopes are too sensitive to capture details of bright, nearby events. As an example, the image above was taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (left image). On 03 January 2015, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae looked at the same region (right image) and detected a bright supernova.

Aside from supernovae, the survey has also detected two tidal disruption events which are extremely rare sightings of what happens when a black hole captures a portion of a nearby star, and many M dwarf flares, which are believed to emanate from stars with extremely strong magnetic fields.

Mysterious Void In Space In Latest MPG/ESO Telescope Image

In the newly released ESO image, the starfield seemed to be devoid of stars in a particular area.

The new image of the MPG/ESO 2.2 meter telescope shows an area of empty space amidst a field of stars. This "dark area" is not really empty space but a dark cloud called LDN 483 or Lynds Dark Nebula 483.

Nebulas or Nebulae are clouds of dust and gas in space where planets and stars are formed. Dark Nebulas are different in the sense that the cloud has enough material of dust inside of it that it completely blocks all the light emitted by the stars behind it. Compared to other types of nebulae, dark nebulae are believed to have the most conducive and fertile environment to create stars.

LDN 483 is around 700 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent).

Two New Habitable Planets Found By NASA Kepler Mission

Eight new Earth-like planets have been found orbiting stars at a distance where water can exist on the surface. Among the eight discovered planets, two of them are believed to most resemble the Earth. These are Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b.

Kepler-438b is located 470 light-years from Earth while the more distant Kepler-442b is 1,100 light-years away. Both stars orbit red dwarf stars which are smaller and cooler than the Sun.

The zone where exoplanets can maintain water in its surface is known as the Goldilocks zone. These planets must receive about as much sunlight as the Earth. The discovery of Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b doubles the number of small planets that are believed to be habitable.

These findings were announced today in a press conference at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Probing the Spiderweb Galaxy Cluster (MRC 1138-262) Yields Surprising Data

A galaxy cluster is composed of smaller galaxies held together by gravity. It is the largest object found in the Universe.

Using the APEX telescope, astronomers probed the Spiderweb Galaxy which is a galaxy cluster 10.6 billion light years away. Formed by smaller galaxies, the Spiderweb Galaxy (also known as MRC 1138-262) has been studied for twenty years. It has been observed that the object contains a supermassive black hole and is a powerful source of radio waves.

The data from the observation has surprised scientists with their discovery of the formation of the stars in the galaxy cluster taking place. They have noted that instead of the stars being formed from the filaments of the cluster, APEX data has shown that the star formation region is concentrated in one area and not even centered on the galaxy cluster itself.

The Spiderweb Galaxy contains a supermassive black hole and is a powerful source of radio waves — which is what led astronomers to notice it in the first place. The object has thick dust clouds which the LABOCA camera on the APEX telescope can see through.

Distant Galaxy Collision Imaged Through Gravitational Lensing

The European Southern observatory and with the help of other agencies, has imaged a galactic collission that happened when the Universe was half its age using gravitational lensing.

Using state of the art instruments from all around the world, on the ground and in space, ESO has imaged galaxy H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836 in collision with another galaxy.

With the help of gravitational lensing which uses Einstein's theory that light can be bent given enough mass, scientists were able to study objects which would not be visible otherwise and to directly compare local galaxies with much more remote ones, seen when the Universe was significantly younger.

The image above shows the foreground galaxy that is doing the lensing, which resembles how our home galaxy, the Milky Way, would appear if seen edge-on. But around this galaxy there is an almost complete ring — the smeared out image of a star-forming galaxy merger far beyond.

In his theory of general relativity, Einstein predicted that given enough mass, light does not travel in a straight line but will be bent in a similar way to light refracted by a normal lens.”

Gravitational lensing is done with the help of galaxies and galaxy clusters which provides the mass that deflects light from objects behind them due to their strong gravity. The magnifying properties of this effect allow astronomers to study these objects.

The collision of H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836 was gathered using three ESO telescopes, the ALMA, APEX and VISTA, and with assistance of other telescopes and surveys namely: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Gemini South telescope, the Keck-II telescope, the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, the Jansky Very Large Array, CARMA, IRAM and SDSS and WISE.

Star Cluster NGC 3293 Nestled Against Clouds of Gas and Dust in the Carina Constellation

ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile released a striking image of star cluster NGC 3293 with clouds of glowing red gas and streaks of dust in the background. NGC is composed of young stars are believed to be less than ten million years old and is about 8000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Carina (The Keel).

Using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) installed on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the observatory, astronomers study young star clusters such as NGC 3293 to learn more about the evolution of stars.

Star cluster are groups of stars that are held together by their own gravitational fields. Open star clusters and globular are the two types of clusters. NGC 3293 is an open star cluster; loosely clustered groups of young stars. The gravitational attraction between the stars in an open star cluster may be weak or non existent.

Globular star clusters are made up of hundreds of thousands of very old stars that are gravitationally bound. These stars are attracted to each other and form a very tight sphere. The stars within a globular star cluster orbit a galactic core and the amount of stars within get denser going toward the center.

These open clusters each formed from a giant cloud of molecular gas and their stars are held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. But these forces are not enough to hold a cluster together against close encounters with other clusters and clouds of gas as the cluster’s own gas and dust dissipates. So, open clusters will only last a few hundred million years, unlike their big cousins, the globular clusters, which can survive for billions of years, and hold on to far more stars.