The galactic bubble known as RCW 120 lies some 4,300 light-years from Earth
Posted on 05/06/2010 8:27:46 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A colossal star many times the mass of our own Sun is seen growing in a bubble of gas and dust just pictured by the Herschel space observatory.
The image of the bubble, known as RCW 120, has been released a few days ahead of the European telescope's first birthday in orbit on 14 May.
Herschel's infrared detectors are tuned to see the cold materials that give birth to stars.
Pictures like RCW 120 will help explain how really giant ones are made.
The monster in this picture is seen as the small white blob on the bottom edge of the bubble.
The "baby" star is perhaps a few tens of thousands of years old and has yet to ignite the nuclear furnace that will form at its core. But it is some eight to 10 times the mass of our Sun and is surrounded by about 200 times as much material.
If more of that gas and dust continues to fall in on the star, the object has the potential to become one of the Milky Way Galaxy's true giants, and it will go on to have a profound influence on its environment.
"It's the massive stars that control the dynamical and chemical evolution of the galaxy," explained Herschel scientist Dr Annie Zavagno from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille.
"It's the massive stars that create the heavy elements like iron and they are able to put them in the interstellar medium. And because they end their lives in supernova explosions, they also inject a lot of energy into the galaxy," she told BBC News.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
ESA Portal
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
“...some 4,300 light-years from Earth...”
I drive a 2003 Ford Taurus. At 70 mph, how long would it take to get to that bubble? And how many fill-ups would it take?
Star formation around RCW 120, the perfect bubble
You’d want a seat cushion for a trip that long.
“And how many fill-ups would it take?”
Around the same number we use to describe the debt Zero has foisted on us.
Cool!!! This telescope looks in the infrared spectrum hence its name.
Wait till this star supernovas!!
to know what the star's current state is and compare would be neat
Reminds me of both Katie Couric’s and Al Roper’s trip up the muddy river
It appears that the bubble burst at the top of the second picture. I wonder if they have SUV’s on RCW-120?
And a "flight extender". Or a case of Depends™.
Just one. Floor it until you reach 70 and coast the rest of the way. Radio reception will get poor past the Moon's orbit, though, unless you have XM.
'Silver sensation' seeks cold cosmos
70 miles an hour is...
613,200 miles a year
Your 2003 Taurus according to the EPA gets 26 MPG highway
Your gas tank is 18 gallons
which means you can get roughly 468 Miles on a tank of gas
That's 1310 gas stops per year
So, 2,522,249,280,000,000,000,000,000 (septillion) miles divided by 613,200 miles is how many years it will take. Multiply that number by 1310 to find out how many pit stops it will take.
4,113,257,142,857,142,857 years (quintillion) I think and 5,388,366,857,142,857,142,857 (sextillion) fill ups at the pump, I believe.
For reference, according to what science can guess the universe is about 13,730,000,000 (billion) years old. So, roughly if you take 299,581,729 (million) times the age of universe, that is how long it will take your Taurus to get to that bubble.
And oddly enough our debt will be $4,113,257,142,857,142,857 in 2020 or it seems like it anyway.
Hope that info is helpful.
Thanks for running the numbers. Looks like I’ll get a tune-up before I leave. Anything to stretch the gas mileage. :-)
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