Posted on 05/28/2015 4:59:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Large spiral galaxy NGC 4945 is seen edge-on near the center of this cosmic galaxy portrait. In fact, NGC 4945 is almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Its own dusty disk, young blue star clusters, and pink star forming regions standout in the sharp, colorful telescopic image. About 13 million light-years distant toward the expansive southern constellation Centaurus, NGC 4945 is only about six times farther away than Andromeda, the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Though the galaxy's central region is largely hidden from view for optical telescopes, X-ray and infrared observations indicate significant high energy emission and star formation in the core of NGC 4945. Its obscured but active nucleus qualifies the gorgeous island universe as a Seyfert galaxy and home to a central supermassive black hole.
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[Credit and Copyright: Petri Kehusmaa, Harlingten Atacama Observatory]
OMG, we're all gonna die!
Nearby?........................
We, and everything you see, were all once a part of a star.....................
Yeh, 13 Million light-years is in our neighborhood. Just down the street.
Andromeda is 2 million and so would be our next door neighbor.
There is an article in June’s Sky and Telescope about the absurdity of distance in cosmological terms. Very interesting.
The blurb from the article:
The author discusses the quantity of numbers that are used in astronomy like the age of the Moon’s subsurface layers, mass of the biggest black hole in the Milky Way and distance in light years of the Abell 2065 galaxy. Topics covered include the impact of the conversion of 1.1 billion light years in miles, reminder of the interview of a Buddhist monk by author Peter Matthiesen about his crippled legs and admission of the absurdity of grasping huge numbers.
The speed of light is much too slow..................
I have it on good authority from our Dear Leader that until we tackle climate change more galaxies will spiral out of control and form massive black holes . . .
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