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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Quasars may Answer how Starburst Galaxies were extinguished

    August 1, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An artist´s view of the heart of a quasar. Credit: NASA

    An artist´s view of the heart of a quasar. Credit: NASA

    Observations suggest quasars may starve galaxies of energy needed to form stars. Some of the biggest galaxies in the universe are full of extinguished stars. But nearly 12 billion years ago, soon after the universe first was created, these massive galaxies were hotspots that brewed up stars by the billions. How these types of cosmic realms, called dusty starburst galaxies, became galactic dead zones is an enduring mystery.
     
    Astronomers at the University of Iowa offer a clue. They say quasars, powerful energy sources believed to dwell at the heart of galaxies, may be responsible for why some dusty starburst galaxies ceased making stars...
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    Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized Gas detected in a Nearby Galaxy

    July 31, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Hubble view of barred spiral galaxy Messier 83. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Credit: William Blair, Johns Hopkins University

    Hubble view of barred spiral galaxy Messier 83. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Credit: William Blair, Johns Hopkins University

    A research group led by Erin Boettcher of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has detected and characterized an extraplanar diffuse ionized gas in the nearby galaxy Messier 83. The study provides important insights into kinematics of the diffuse gas in this galaxy. Discovered in 1752, Messier 83 (M83 for short) is a barred spiral galaxy located some 15.6 million light years away from the Earth. It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky.

    M83 has a complex, multi-phase gaseous halo...

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    The Outer Galaxy

    July 31, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An artist's reconstruction of the Milky Way galaxy showing the locations of the various spiral arms. Astronomers have detected massive young stars forming in the outer part of the Scutum-Centarus Arm, the outermost portions of the galaxy. Credit: NASA

    An artist’s reconstruction of the Milky Way galaxy showing the locations of the various spiral arms. Astronomers have detected massive young stars forming in the outer part of the Scutum-Centarus Arm, the outermost portions of the galaxy. Credit: NASA

    The sun is located inside one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, roughly 2/3 of the way from the galactic center to the outer regions. Because we are inside the galaxy, obscuration by dust and the confusion of sources along our lines-of-sight make mapping the galaxy a difficult task...

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    Large, Distant Comets more Common than previously thought

    July 26, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A new study suggests that distant "long-period" comets -- which take more than 200 years to orbit the sun -- are more common than previously thought. This illustration shows how the researchers used data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft to determine the nucleus sizes of several of these distant comets. They subtracted a model of how dust and gas behave in comets in order to obtain the core size. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A new study suggests that distant “long-period” comets — which take more than 200 years to orbit the sun — are more common than previously thought. This illustration shows how the researchers used data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft to determine the nucleus sizes of several of these distant comets. They subtracted a model of how dust and gas behave in comets in order to obtain the core size. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Comets that take more than 200 years to make one revolution around the sun are notoriously difficult to study. Because they spend most of their time far from our area of the solar system, many “long-period comets” will never approach the sun in a person’s lifetime...

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