Three Dozen New Galaxies Are Found in Nearby Space

NY Times ^ | December 22, 2004 | DENNIS OVERBYE

[brazzaville]

Good evening.

We will either go out among the stars or be extinguished. I think the stars await us and Spaceship One is the beginning of the adventure.

Merry Christmas

Michael Frazier

[inquest]

I alway wondered why they call it the Milky Way.

Let me guess: you live near a city? ;-)

[Neuromancer]

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours....

[Baraonda]

"Let me guess: you live near a city? ;-)"

Yes. How did you know that?

[XBob]

the Galex satellite, which was launched in 2003

[genefromjersey]

And a merry one back to you !

[XBob]

33 - "I alway wondered why they call it the Milky Way. "

If you wish to have a real treat, purposely go to a mountain in the desert (low water vapor), far from any civilization (lights), or ocean (clouds) and do some star gazing.

The night sky in such a place is simply amazing, and totally awe inspiring. And the 'milky way' (the area of the sky looking into the massive amount of stars which make up our galaxy, is readily apparent.

It is sad that you 'wonder' why, because that means, like most on earth, you haven't had the opportunity to observe the 'real' night sky, unclouded, unfogged, unsmogged, un-backlit. As much as I love my home areas on the Gulf and Atlantic, I do miss the spectacular night skys of the desert (no telescope necessary).

On a mountain in Saudi Arabia, I have even read a newspaper by starlight. It is simply amazing - like something out of 'Startrek', but there it is, real, right before your very eyes.

To give an astute, astronomical observation:

WOW !

[Squawk 8888]

If anyone here gets to be put in charge of developing a new planet someday, could you ping me?

Well, if it were up to me I'd hire Slartibartfast to head up the design team. He does some really nice fjords.

[inquest]

If you go way out into the country (or out at sea) to look up at the stars, it's a whole different experience, especially when there's no moon in the sky. And if the Milky Way (that is, the disk of our galaxy seen from inside the disk) happens to be overhead, you'll see why it's called that. It's quite a sight to behold, I can assure you!

[TXnMA]

For hundreds of similarly spectacular photos of the universe and its myriad wonders, see APOD, the archives of the Astronomy Picture Of the Day website.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the pic. I assume it's an illustration. Merry Christmas!

[TXnMA]

I still feel that same awe and wonderment as the first time I saw Saturn's rings thru my own backyard scope so many years ago when I was in grade school. (in the 60's. :-))

Same here -- except it was through a surveyor's transit (but, like you, in the '60's...)

[Boiler Plate]

Simply incredible, right under our noses whole new galaxies are found. Kinda like finding the winning $500,000,000 powerball ticket in your coat pocket. You know it's this kind of stuff that makes you realize that we really don't know that much about the place we live in.

[neverdem]

Petuniasevan, APOD's poster, stopped posting just after the November election. I was on the ping list for APOD. Do you have any idea what happened?

[TXnMA]

I've had APOD on my favorites bar for a l-o-n-g while, so I seldom followed the APOD threads here. I have no idea as to what transpired with Petuniaseven -- sorry...

[Baraonda]

"It is sad that you 'wonder' why, because that means, like most on earth, you haven't had the opportunity to observe the 'real' night sky, unclouded, unfogged, unsmogged, un-backlit."

Thanks.

You bring back a lot of memories.

I was asking why they call it the Milky Way and now I know. I really know. I have experienced what you describe above in my younger days in Europe - ie, Sardinia, Sicily and Malta. I go back about 50 years. But not here on the East Coast.

Merry Christmas.

[NormsRevenge]

Mery Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here's to clear skies tonight and a big scope..

Click here to see large pic.

COBE image of the Milky Way: (Courtesy of Ned Wright, click here for related images)

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101mw.html

The Galaxy has three major components:

A thin disk consisting of young and intermediate age stars - this disk also contains gas and is actively forming new stars. Dust in the disk makes it appear orange in the picture. Dust absorbs blue light more than red light and thus makes stars appear reddish. Our Galaxy has spiral arms in its disk - these spiral arms are regions of active star formation.

A bar of older stars (white in the COBE picture).

An extended dark halo whose composition is unknown. Since the matter in the halo does not consist of luminous stars, it does not show up in the COBE image. The existence of the dark halo is inferred from its gravitational pull on the visible matter.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Thanks for the ping Radio Astronomer!

I thought I'd share this. It may not be Hubble quality, but it's mine.

This is my most recent image of M-42 Nebula in Orion that was taken on 11/13/04.

This image was prime focus, 3 minute exposure film format, 20 minute exposure, and was processed with Adobe Photoshop, as the raw image had slight light pollution fogging, was slightly out of focus and there were some tracking problems. For those that are interested

At at distance of about 1600 light years from earth, the Orion Nebula owes its appearance to a grouping of four young, hot stars known as the Trapezium. The brightest member produces enough radiation to cause the surrounding shell of hydrogen gas to glow so brightly that we can see it from a distance of 1,600 light-years.

The gas clouds are actually a stellar nursery where new stars are being formed. The bright part of the nebula is the glow of many luminous, newborn stars shining on the surrounding gas cloud. The nebula and the brighter stars are very young by astronomical standards, at about 30,000 years old. Compare this to our own Sun, which is a middle-aged star at over four billion years!

And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and all.

[Caipirabob]

Let me guess, the Dems are now attempting to leave Red states to get there? Perhaps we should revive the Apollo program...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Then why are we also told that galaxies are always colliding with each other?

Only galaxies driving under the influence collide with each other.