Bellatrix Orionis

This Suzaku image shows X-ray emission from hot gas throughout the galaxy cluster PKS 0745-191. Brighter colors indicate greater X-ray emission. The circle is 11.2 million light-years across and marks the region where cold gas is now entering the cluster. Inset: A Hubble optical image of the cluster's central galaxies is shown at the correct scale. Credit: NASA/ISAS/Suzaku/M. George, et al.

The joint Japan-U.S. Suzaku telescope is now providing new insight into how galaxies pull themselves together.

The Suzaku’s X-ray telescopes was aimed at the cluster PKS 0745-191, which are 1.3 billion light-years away in the southern constellation Puppis.  From 11 to 14 May 2007  Suzaku took five images of the million-degree gas that permeates the cluster.

By looking at a cluster in X-rays, astronomers can measure the temperature and density of the gas, which provides clues about the gas pressure and total mass of the cluster.  Astronomers expect that the gas in the inner part of a galaxy cluster has settled into a “relaxed” state in balance with the cluster’s gravity.  This means that the hottest, densest gas lies near the cluster’s centre, and temperatures and densities steadily decline at greater distances.

In PKS 0745-191, the gas temperature peaks at 91 million degrees Centigrade (164 million degrees Fahrenheit) about 1.1 million light-years from the cluster’s center.  The temperature then decreases smoothly with distance and dropps to 25 million degrees Centigrade (45 million degress Fahrenheit) more than 5.6 million light-years from the centre.

To discern the cluster’s outermost X-ray emission requires detectors with exceptionally low background noise.  Suzaku’s advanced X-ray detectors, coupled with a low-altitude orbit, give the observatory much lower background noise than other X-ray satellites.  Suzaku’s low orbit means that it’s largely protected by Earth’s magnetic field, which deflects energetic particles from the sun and beyond.

Suzaku (“red bird of the south”) was launched on July 10, 2005. The observatory was developed at the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA and other Japanese and U.S. institutions.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

This fantastic image was taken by the Voyager 2 probe back in August 1989.  The image shows Neptunes moon Triton.  To create the colours the images were taken through green, tiolet and ultraviolet filters.  In reality Triton does not appear blue, the filters create the illusion of this colour.  Triton is generally seen in tones of pink

You can discover more about the Voyager probes at NASA.
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Credits: ESA and the PACS Consortium

Herschel opened its eye on 14 June 2009 and took this fantastic image of M51, the whirlpool galaxy .  The image was taken in 3 colours which helps show off  Herschel’s imaging power as the largest infrared telescope in space.

This image shows the famous whirlpool galaxy which was first observed by Charles Messier in 1773.  This spiral galaxy lies approximately 35 million light-years away, in the constellation Canes Venatici.  M51 was the first galaxy discovered to have a spiral structure.

The image is a composite of three observations taken at 70, 100 and 160 microns, taken by Herschel’s Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) on 14 and 15 June, immediately after the satellite’s cryocover was opened on 14 June.

This is a fantastic preview of great things to come.

The image on the right allows you to compare the same image as taken by the Spitzer telescope.

Credits: Magnetar Illustration: NASA

Magnetars are the most intensely magnetised objects in the Universe and are thought to be a type of neutron star.  Their magnetic fields are some 10 000 million times stronger than Earth’s.  If a magnetar were to magically appear at half the Moon’s distance from Earth, its magnetic field would wipe the details off every credit card on Earth.

So far only 15 magnetars in total are known in our Galaxy.

An article can be found at ESA’s website on this.

Whilst merrily blogging away I began to wonder how many space related songs there are and which are the most popular. The list below isn’t in any particular order, just as I thought of them.  Please feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions and I’ll add them in.  I may even have to create a play list of them

1.  Life on Mars? – David Bowie

2.  The Planet Suite – Holst

3. Walking on the Moon – The Police

4. Rendez-Vous – Jean Michel Jarre

5.  Space Oddity – David Bowie

6.  2001 a Space Odyssey – the soundtrack

7.  Sword of Orion – Vangelis

8.  Starman – David Bowie

9.  The Motion of the Stars – Vangelis

10.  Hallo Spaceboy – David Bowie

11. Space Station No 9 – Sammy Hagar

12. Ticket to the Moon – Electric Light Orchestra

There’s an interesting article over at Scientific America regarding if it’s possible for the black holes more troublesome sibling to exist – the naked singularity.  It’s one of those strange ideas that’s been floating around for a while, but no-one seems to be really sure about it.

Check out the article and see what you think.  Is it possible for a naked singularity to form or is a black hole the way to go?  Personally I still think I perhaps need to read more on this subject as when I hear/read about a singularity forming it makes me think of Star Trek.

On 6 October 2008 NASA’s MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft) sent back revealing data on Mercury’s atmosphere, how it’s magnetic field interacts with the solar wind and it’s geological past.  Scientists have noted that Mercury’s geological past has shown more activity than they expected.  MESSENGER also found a previously undiscovered impact crater which is 430 miles in diameter, which has been called Rembrandt.  The probe also captured more than 1,200 high resolution colour images of the planet.  Scientists have now been able to view another 30% of the planets surface, which up until now had never been seen.

From the information sent back by MESSENGER scientists have discovered that magnesium is part of Mercury’s thin atmosphere and even though this was expected, the amounts and distribution was a surprise.  Calcium and sodium were also found in the atmosphere.  By comparing information from MESSENGERS first observations of Mercury during January 2008 and observations taken during October 2008 scientists have been able to compare the interaction of the planets magnetic field with the solar wind.  It’s thought that Mercury’s changeable atmosphere could be caused by variations in the shielding provided by the magnetosphere.

Up until a year ago only half of Mercury had ever been seen, even globes of the planet had been left blank on one side.  Now with the help of MESSENGER scientists have been able to see approximately 90% of the planet, which has given them new ideas as to how the surface of the planet formed.

Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IoA/A. Fabian et al.; Optical: SDSS; Radio: STFC/JBO/MERLIN

The image on the right is made up of 3 images all showing the same region of the Chandra Deep Field North.  The image in blue is a deep image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, whilst the red  image is from the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), which is an array of radio telescopes across the UK.  Last but not least is an optical image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) which is shown in white, yellow and orange.

The diffuse blue object near the centre of the image is believed to be a cosmic “ghost” generated by a huge eruption from a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy.  This X-ray ghost, known as HDF 130, is all that remains after powerful radio waves from particles traveling away from the black hole at almost the speed of light, have died off.  As the energy of the elctrons spread out they produce x-rays by interacting with the photons that remain from the Big Bang.  The cigar-like shape of HDF 130 and its length of about 2.2 million light years are consistent with the properties of radio jets.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The illustration on the left is an artist’s idea of how silicate crystals could be created by a growing star.  Crystals like this are often found in comets.  The image shows a young sun-like star encircled by its planet-forming disk of dust and gas.  The silicate that makes up most of the dust would have begun as non-crystallised particles with no structure.

As material transfers from the disk onto the star, its mass increases, t brightens and heats up dramatically.  The resulting outburst causes temperatures to rise in the star’s surrounding area.

When the material in the disk warms from the star’s outburst, the particles of silicate melt.  As they cool off, they transform into forsterite (see inset), a type of silicate crystal often found in comets in our solar system.

In April 2008, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope detected evidence of this process taking place on the disk of a young sun-like star called EX Lupi.