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    star formation tagged posts

    Astronomers make first accurate measurement of #Oxygen in Distant Galaxy

    August 5, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Galaxy COSMOS-1908 is in the center of this Hubble Space Telescope image, indicated by the arrow. Nearly everything in the image is a galaxy; many of these galaxies are much closer to Earth than COSMOS-1908. Credit: Ryan Sanders and the CANDELS team

    Galaxy COSMOS-1908 is in the center of this Hubble Space Telescope image, indicated by the arrow. Nearly everything in the image is a galaxy; many of these galaxies are much closer to Earth than COSMOS-1908. Credit: Ryan Sanders and the CANDELS team

     
    Quantifying the amount of oxygen is key to understanding how #matter #cycles in and out of galaxies. Oxygen, the third-most abundant chemical element in the universe, is created inside stars and released into interstellar gas when stars die. “This is by far the most distant galaxy for which the oxygen abundance has actually been measured,” said Alice Shapley, a UCLA professor of astronomy. “We’re looking back in time at this galaxy as it appeared 12 billion years ago.”
     
    Knowing the abundance of oxygen in the galaxy called #COSMO...
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    Deepest ever look into Orion Nebula

    July 13, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. This is the deepest view ever of this region and reveals more very faint planetary-mass objects than expected. Credit: ESO/H. Drass et al.

    This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This is the deepest view ever of this region and reveals more very faint planetary-mass objects than expected. Credit: ESO/H. Drass et al.

    HAWK-I infrared instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has revealed the deepest and most comprehensive view of the Orion Nebula to date. It has revealed a great abundance of faint brown dwarfs and isolated planetary-mass objects. The very presence of these low-mass bodies provides an exciting insight into the history of star formation within the nebula itself...

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    Study explains why Galaxies Stop Creating Stars

    July 9, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ESO 137-001 is a perfect example of a spiral galaxy zipping through a crammed cluster of galaxies. Gas is being pulled from its disc in a process called ram pressure stripping. The galaxy appears to be losing gas as it plunges through the Norma galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

    ESO 137-001 is a perfect example of a spiral galaxy zipping through a crammed cluster of galaxies. Gas is being pulled from its disc in a process called ram pressure stripping. The galaxy appears to be losing gas as it plunges through the Norma galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

    Astronomers examined around 70,000 galaxies to address an important unsolved mystery in astrophysics. Galaxies come in 3 main shapes – elliptical, spiral (such as the Milky Way) and irregular. They can be massive or small. To add to this mix, galaxies can also be blue or red. Blue galaxies are still actively forming stars. Red ones mostly are not currently forming stars, and are considered passive.

    The processes that cause galaxies to “quench,” ie cease star formation, are...

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    Spiderweb Galaxy: Watery Dew Drops surrounding dusty Spider’s Web

    July 2, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Annotated image of the Spiderweb Galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (optical) in red, the Very Large Array (radio) in green and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (sub-millimetre) in blue. The red colour shows where the stars are located within this system of galaxies. The radio jet is shown in green, and the position of the dust and water are seen in blue. The water is located to the left and right of the central galaxy. The water to the right is at the position where the radio jet bends down wards. The dust is also seen in blue. The dust is located at the central galaxy and in smaller companion galaxies in its surroundings. Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/STScI/NRAO/ESO/

    Annotated image of the Spiderweb Galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (optical) in red, the Very Large Array (radio) in green and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (sub-millimetre) in blue. The red colour shows where the stars are located within this system of galaxies. The radio jet is shown in green, and the position of the dust and water are seen in blue. The water is located to the left and right of the central galaxy. The water to the right is at the position where the radio jet bends down wards. The dust is also seen in blue. The dust is located at the central galaxy and in smaller companion galaxies in its surroundings. Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/STScI/NRAO/ESO/

    Astronomers have spotted glowing droplets of condensed water in the distant Spiderweb Galaxy – but not wh...

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