 |
|
Hubble sees magnetic monster in erupting galaxy
August 21, 2008The Hubble Space Telescope has found the answer to a long-standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. It is the most striking example of the influence of these immense tentacles of extragalactic magnetic fields, say researchers.
NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. It is an active galaxy, hosting a supermassive black hole at its core, which blows bubbles of radio-wave emitting material into the surrounding cluster gas. Its most spectacular feature is the lacy filigree of gaseous filaments reaching out beyond the galaxy into the multi-million degree X-ray emitting gas that fills the cluster.
These filaments are the only visible-light manifestation of the intricate relationship between the central black hole and the surrounding cluster gas. They provide important clues about how giant black holes affect their surrounding environment.
A team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys have for the first time resolved individual threads of gas which make up the filaments. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is around one million times the mass of our own Sun. They are only 200 light-years wide, are often surprisingly straight, and extend for up to 20 000 light-years. The filaments are formed when cold gas from the galaxy's core is dragged out in the wake of rising bubbles blown by the black hole.
It has been a challenge for astronomers to understand how the delicate structures withstood the hostile high-energy environment of the galaxy cluster for more than 100 million years. They should have heated up, dispersed, and evaporated over a very short period of time, or collapsed under their own gravity to form stars. Even more puzzling is the fact that they haven't been ripped apart by the strong tidal pull of gravity in the cluster's core.
A new study led by Andy Fabian from the University of Cambridge, UK, published in Nature on 21 August 2008 proposes that the magnetic fields hold the charged gas in place and resist forces that would distort the filaments. This skeletal structure has been able to contain and suspend these peculiarly long threads for over 100 million years. "We can see that the magnetic fields are crucial for these complex filaments - both for their survival and for their integrity", said Fabian.
The new Hubble data also allowed the strength of the magnetic fields in the filaments to be determined from their size. Thinner filaments are more fragile, requiring stronger magnetic fields for support. However, the finer the filaments, the more difficult they are to observe.
The filamentary system in NGC 1275 provides the most striking example of the workings of extragalactic magnetic fields so far and is a spectacular by-product of the complex interaction between the cluster gas and the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's heart. Similar networks of filaments are found around many other, even more remote, central cluster galaxies. They cannot be observed in anything like the detail of NGC 1275, so the team will apply the understanding gained here to interpret observations of these more distant galaxies.
Hubble Information Centre
A team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys have for the first time resolved individual threads of gas which make up the filaments. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is around one million times the mass of our own Sun. They are only 200 light-years wide, are often surprisingly straight, and extend for up to 20 000 light-years. The filaments are formed when cold gas from the galaxy's core is dragged out in the wake of rising bubbles blown by the black hole.
It has been a challenge for astronomers to understand how the delicate structures withstood the hostile high-energy environment of the galaxy cluster for more than 100 million years. They should have heated up, dispersed, and evaporated over a very short period of time, or collapsed under their own gravity to form stars. Even more puzzling is the fact that they haven't been ripped apart by the strong tidal pull of gravity in the cluster's core.
A new study led by Andy Fabian from the University of Cambridge, UK, published in Nature on 21 August 2008 proposes that the magnetic fields hold the charged gas in place and resist forces that would distort the filaments. This skeletal structure has been able to contain and suspend these peculiarly long threads for over 100 million years. "We can see that the magnetic fields are crucial for these complex filaments - both for their survival and for their integrity", said Fabian.
The new Hubble data also allowed the strength of the magnetic fields in the filaments to be determined from their size. Thinner filaments are more fragile, requiring stronger magnetic fields for support. However, the finer the filaments, the more difficult they are to observe.
The filamentary system in NGC 1275 provides the most striking example of the workings of extragalactic magnetic fields so far and is a spectacular by-product of the complex interaction between the cluster gas and the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's heart. Similar networks of filaments are found around many other, even more remote, central cluster galaxies. They cannot be observed in anything like the detail of NGC 1275, so the team will apply the understanding gained here to interpret observations of these more distant galaxies.
Hubble Information Centre
Hubble Space Telescope Current Events and Hubble Space Telescope News RSSBlack Hole Caught Zapping Galaxy into Existence?
Which come first, the supermassive black holes that frantically devour matter or the enormous galaxies where they reside? A brand new scenario has emerged from a recent set of outstanding observations of a black hole without a home: black holes may be "building" their own host galaxy.
Goddard team develops new carriers for space station
In a partnership that exemplifies One NASA, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. teamed up with engineers at NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers to design, build, and test five new ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, or ELCs, which will be delivered to the International Space Station.
'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies
Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang.
Opening up a colorful cosmic jewel box
Star clusters are among the most visually alluring and astrophysically fascinating objects in the sky. One of the most spectacular nestles deep in the southern skies near the Southern Cross in the constellation of Crux.
Scientists use world's fastest supercomputer to model origins of the unseen universe
Understanding dark energy is the number one issue in explaining the universe, according to Salman Habib, of the Laboratory's Nuclear and Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology group.
Rebirth of an icon: Hubble's first images since Servicing Mission 4
Astronomers today declared the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory ready for a new decade of exploration, with the release of observations from four of its six operating science instruments.
Astronomers discover stars in early galaxies had a need for speed
A team of astronomers has measured the motions of stars in a very distant galaxy for the first time and discovered they are whizzing around at astonishingly high speeds-about one million miles per hour, or twice the speed at which the Sun circles our own Milky Way galaxy.
Dark Energy From the Ground Up: Make Way for BigBOSS
Several ways have been proposed to examine dark energy, in hopes of finding out just what it is. One of them, "supernovae" for short, certainly works: it's how dark energy was discovered in the first place. Other independent techniques, such as weak gravitational lensing and baryon acoustic oscillation, also promise great power but are as yet unproven.
Hubble captures rare Jupiter collision
The checkout and calibration of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been interrupted to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter.
NASA celebrates Chandra X-Ray Observatory's 10th anniversary
Ten years ago, on July 23, 1999, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia and deployed into orbit.
More Hubble Space Telescope Current Events and Hubble Space Telescope News Articles
 |
Hubble: Imaging Space and Time by David Devorkin (Author), Robert Smith (Author) In the spirit of National Geographic’s top-selling Orbit, this large-format, full-color volume stands alone in revealing more than 200 of the most spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime, to the very eve of the 2008 final shuttle mission to the telescope. Written by two of the world’s foremost authorities on space history, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time illuminates the solar system’s workings, the expansion of the universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies, and the mysterious force known as "dark energy." The potential impact of this book cannot be overstressed: The 2008 servicing mission to install new high-powered scientific instruments is especially high profile because the... |
 |
The Visible Universe: A Visual Journey Through Space and Back in Time. NASA - Hubble Space Telescope Starring: Super Nova Directed By: David DeMarcos Also With: David DeMarcos (Producer) NTSC North American Format Updated 2009 - Includes:
The Visible Universe presents a visual journey through space and back in time using the greatest optical instruments ever created in the history of man. The Hubble Space Telescope, SOHO, Trace, Spitzer, and other instruments have afforded us an insight to the farthest reaches of the Cosmos. Carl Sagan The producer hopes that this progressive music video will entertain and inspire our children to further... |
 |
Hubble Space Telescope Model Kit by Space Craft Internation The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Craft Science Kit is very realistic... so much so that it is hard to tell from a distance that it's made of paper. Many of its parts have bonded metal foil, and look like they're made of metal. Blue and gold-foil solar panels. Internal details include reflective primary and secondary mirrors, printed trusses and baffles. Includes information on how to modify the completed laser-cut, paper card stock model to illustrate installing new instruments as astronauts did first in December, 1993, and again on later upgrade missions. Assembled model is about 10 inches (26 cm) overall. Scale is approximately 1/65. |
 |
Hubble Space Telescope 2010 Standard Wall Calendar 12 X 12 by 2010 Wyman Publishing Hubble Space Telescope Wall Calendar: This calendar is filled with stunning images of the universe that surrounds us, captured by the marvelous Hubble Telescope. This is a visual treat and is perfect for those studying space, novice or advanced, and all those who simply appreciate the beauty of the heavens above us. Each month includes a small descriptor of the image featured. |
 |
The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It by Robert Zimmerman (Author) The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe around us, revealing new information about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes, among other startling discoveries. The Universe in a Mirror tells the story of this telescope and the visionaries responsible for its extraordinary accomplishments. Robert Zimmerman takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever sent into space. After World War II, astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Zimmerman shows how many of... |
 |
The Hubble Space Telescope - Poster (Size: 24" x 36") by Posterstoponline |
 |
The Visible Universe: A Visual Journey Through Space and Back in Time. NASA - Hubble Space Telescope Directed By: David Alexander DeMarcos Also With: Waterline Productions (Producer) |
 |
Space Views From the Hubble Telescope 2010 Wall Calendar Publisher: Pomegranate by Hubble Telescope 2010 Space from the Hubble Telescope 2010 Wall Calendar : Not since Galileo turned his telescope toward the heavens in 1610 has any event so changed our understanding of the universe as the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope. Orbiting 600 kilometers (375 miles) above Earth, Hubble provides stunning views of the universe that cannot be made using ground-based telescopes or other satellites. |
![Hubble Space Telescope: Rescue In Space [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21RTZCV1JSL._SL160_.jpg) |
Hubble Space Telescope: Rescue In Space [VHS] Directed By: Russ Finley Journey into space with the Astronauts on one of the most important and spectacular Space Shuttle Missions ever - the critical mission to repair the Space Telescope. Plus, see the first dramatically improved deep space images from Hubble's newly repaired cameras. 50 minutes. |
 |
Deep Space: Featuring Hubble Space Telescope Images (Interactive PC/Mac CD-ROM) by Finley-Holiday Film Corp. Explore the deepest reaches of the universe with this incredible interactive CD. Filled with hundreds of awesome images and amazing facts, this multimedia program lets you explore the last frontier with the very best images from the Hubble Space Telescope. High Resolution, High Quality Color Images: This CD features a complete collection of Hubble images from the Space Telescope Science Institute's, plus 32 superb earth-based astronomical photographs. As an added bonus get the complete story of the Space Telescope's spectacular servicing missions and 16 exciting planet views. |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |