Skip to comments.
Astronomy Picture of the Day 6-17-02
NASA ^
| 6-17-02
| Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell
Posted on 06/16/2002 10:09:21 PM PDT by petuniasevan
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 June 17
NGC 4697: X-Rays from an Elliptical Galaxy
Credit : C. Sarazin (UVa), et al., CXC, NASA
Explanation: The many bright, point-like sources in this Chandra Observatory x-ray image lie within NGC 4697, an elliptical galaxy some 40 million light-years away towards Virgo. Like other normal elliptical galaxies, NGC 4697 is a spherical ensemble of mainly older, fainter, low mass stars, with little star forming gas and dust compared to spiral galaxies. But the luminous x-ray sources in the Chandra image indicate that NGC 4697 had a wilder youth. Powering the x-ray sources are neutron stars and black holes in binary star systems, where x-rays are generated as matter from a more ordinary companion star falls in to these bizarre, compact objects. Since neutron stars and black holes are the endpoints in the lives of massive stars, NGC 4697 must have had many bright, massive stars in its past. An exceptionally large number of NGC 4697's x-ray binaries are found in the galaxy's globular star clusters, suggesting that dense star clusters are a good place for neutron stars and black holes to capture a companion. Stellar winds and supernovae explosions of massive stars could also have produced the hot gas responsible for this galaxy's diffuse x-ray glow.
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; blackhole; chandra; galaxy; image; neutronstar; observatory; photography; space; xray
"Seeing with other eyes" opens new windows into the universe.
Get on the APOD PING list!
To: MozartLover; Joan912; NovemberCharlie; snowfox; Dawgsquat; viligantcitizen; theDentist; grlfrnd...
APOD PING!
To: petuniasevan
Our eyes can only see such a tiny part of the EM spectrum. Thanks for the post :-)
To: petuniasevan
What a beautiful glow! Thanks 'tunia! &;-)
4
posted on
06/16/2002 10:26:39 PM PDT
by
2Trievers
To: petuniasevan
Happy 7th Birthday, APOD.
That's like almost 50 in dog years, and forever on the internet.
5
posted on
06/17/2002 2:45:06 AM PDT
by
leadpenny
To: leadpenny;Radio Astronomer
no Kidding! 7 years of this!!! Wow...FR Long may she rave(Reign!!! meant Reign!!!) Hey RA...when are we gonna get our Gravity wave Goggles? I want to see a panorama of colliding binary neutron stars on my screensaver...in Gravity wave false color(of course). Have a great Celestial Day, ALL.
To: petuniasevan
This is so pretty I actually gave up my "Aragorn" wallpaper and made this my wallpaper instead.:)
To: MozartLover
One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them...
as good today as 60 years ago when he started writing middle Earth...JRR Tolkein...star light of Galadriel's gift to Frodo in hand...walks the stars yet...
To: petuniasevan
40 million light years! Dinosaurs still walked the Earth!
9
posted on
06/17/2002 8:22:16 AM PDT
by
aomagrat
Comment #10 Removed by Moderator
To: LetFreedomLive
BUMP...I don't have to force the universe to fit Genesis verbatim in order to think there is someone watching the show who threw the switch on the big bang...Things are jest a leeetle too random, yet convenient! for life to be an accident! I think God has a sense of humor! or at least cruel Irony!
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson