Posted on 06/03/2014 1:04:30 PM PDT by Red Badger
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have captured the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of the evolving universe—and one of the most colorful. The study is called the Ultraviolet Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field project.
Prior to this survey, astronomers were in a curious position. They knew a lot about star formation occurring in nearby galaxies thanks to UV telescope facilities such as NASA's Galex observatory, which operated from 2003 to 2013. And, thanks to Hubble's near-infrared and visible capability, they had also studied star birth in the most distant galaxies. We see these distant galaxies in their most primitive stages due to the vast amount of time it takes their light to reach us.
However, between 5 and 10 billion light-years away from us—corresponding to a time period when most of the stars in the Universe were born—there was a lack of the data needed to fully understand star formation. The hottest, most massive and youngest stars, which emit light in the ultraviolet, were often neglected as subjects of direct observation, leaving a significant gap in our knowledge of the cosmic timeline.
The addition of ultraviolet data to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 gives astronomers access to direct observations of regions of unobscured star formation and may help us to fully understand how stars formed. By observing at these wavelengths, researchers get a direct look at which galaxies are forming stars and, just as importantly, where the stars are forming. This enables astronomers to understand how galaxies like the Milky Way grew in size from small collections of very hot stars to the massive structures they are today.
The patch of sky in this image has been previously studied by astronomers in a series of visible and near-infrared exposures taken from 2004 to 2009: the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now, with the addition of ultraviolet light, they have combined the full range of colours available to Hubble, stretching all the way from ultraviolet to near- infrared light. The resulting image, made from 841 orbits of telescope viewing time, contains approximately 10 000 galaxies, extending back to within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang.
Since the Earth's atmosphere filters most ultraviolet light, this work can only be accomplished with a space-based telescope like Hubble. Ultraviolet surveys like this are incredibly important in planning for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as Hubble is the only telescope currently able to obtain the ultraviolet data that researchers will need to combine with infrared data from JWST.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014 image is a composite of separate exposures taken from 2003 to 2012 with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.
Explore further: NASA Hubble sees sparring antennae galaxies
The Galaxy Song
Monty Python
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the ‘Milky Way’.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It’s a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it’s just three thousand light years wide.
We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go ‘round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that’s the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.
Gravity “waves” are changes in gravity. How exactly would you achieve instantaneous travel of matter between galaxies?
I happen to believe that instantaneous travel is impossible, but you see he has a point in the fact that gravity is something even Einstein didn’t fully understand. He never solved UFT, for example.
But more to the point, gravity is a force 10^40 times weaker than something you can’t even feel between your finger tips. The electromagnetic force.
But even closer to the point, I don’t think we’ll ever visit other galaxies. There are 400 billion stars in this one alone. What more could anyone ask?
But to hone this point to a razor sharp edge, I don’t think we will ever leave our own solar system. To be honest, we’re just not that important.
The crew I hung with would have put those pikers to shame. I dunno how any of us survived it ;)
Earlier today I was having that same thought: how could anyone possibly think in this enormous universe there’s only US? And how awesome it all is, and how small and, frankly, insignificant each of us is compared to the big picture.
Scientifically, the law of averages says their has to be life elsewhere. I get that some people have a religious objection to it, but why would God create all those trillions of planets that the people he spoke directly to, could not see, let alone comprehend?
And why would he give away all his info to his creations anyway? To me, there is just no way anyone can justify a belief in the ‘aloneness’ of humanity other than to say they ‘believe’ it to be so. Everything we can determine thusfar speaks exactly the opposite.
I see global warming
May I intrude?
1. There isn't only us--the Creator also made angels, which He enabled to enter our universe from heaven apparently at will.
2. Given the immutable laws of physics that the wise Creator chose to conquer the problem of evil as quickly as possible, it takes a universe this enormous in order to have just this one habitable planet. Indeed, the mass-density of the universe is by far the most finely-tuned characteristic demonstrating His design: as the universe expanded and began cooling immediately after the creation event (the big bang), if its mass had been as little as one dime's different, either greater or smaller, either no galaxies at all would have formed or else all matter would be in black holes--and no physical life at all could ever exist.
3. That's how significant humans actually are, and that's how someone could possibly think in this enormous universe there is only us.
Indeed ;)
I may disagree with you, slightly. You're talking about the Industrial Revolution in the 1800's, yes? That was a really big deal. However, there have been huge advances other than with computing in the last 50 years. I see one of the biggest as the discovery of new elements on the Periodic Table. We are very close to discovering new elements that may be extremely stable and that have miraculous properties.
Once that is achieved, we will see an explosive growth in new technologies. Pun intended, although there is more than just weapons. We're talking about amazing materials with magical properties that will allow new spacecraft designs using extremely low amounts of energy for propulsion while allowing strong lightweight craft. Computers that don't need heatsinks to bleed off heat from using lots of energy. Materials that can be printed in shapes without additive manufacturing, that remember their shapes if deformed. The list is endless.
See my post #73. A new area to open up would be 3D printing without using additive manufacturing. I've got a 3D printer, and it's slow as molasses building an object layer by layer. Now imagine a printer that would "print" an object all at once in a 3D shape. Such are the dreams of this Star Trek fan, the creation of a replicator. The future discovery of new elements may make such a thing possible. All we would need is the means to generate appropriate force fields to direct newly created elements at the atomic level into the desired shapes. These materials would "remember" their shapes if deformed and spring back. Electronic circuitry would be embedded in the printed objects by directing which portions of the materials would allow flow of electricity.
Sound crazy? So was the idea of a transistor back in the 1950's. The idea that you could take a piece of silicone, dope it and allow or disallow the flow of electrons seemed crazy. Well, we're poised to do that and more with newly created elements.
You are allowed to disagree with me if only slightly. Do not break the laws of physics, however. The higher the atomic number, the more unstable an atom becomes, and the shorter the half life. You must know this. Supernova explosions have afterglows based on rapid neutron absorption capture. They decay in like two weeks.
No, not breaking the laws of physics. There are quite a few scientific articles out recently predicting a stable row of elements on the Periodic Table, and we’re only one or two away from reaching that. So far, the higher the atomic number, the more unstable; but that is not a law, just our observations to date. Scientists have theorized for decades that it is a possibility to reach a stable set of new elements that won’t rapidly decay. I’ll look for recent articles and state them.
As a start, search for Periodic Table Island of Stability.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability
references some discussions. “In nuclear physics, the island of stability is a set of as-yet undiscovered heavier isotopes of transuranium elements which are theorized to be much more stable than some of those closer in atomic number to uranium. Specifically, they are expected to have radioactive decay half-lives of minutes or days, with “some optimists” expecting half-lives of millions of years.”
“The possibility of an “island of stability” was first proposed by Glenn T. Seaborg in the late 1960s.”
“… One possible magic number of neutrons for spherical nuclei is 184, and some possible matching proton numbers are 114, 120 and 126 – which would mean that the most stable spherical isotopes would be flerovium-298, unbinilium-304 and unbihexium-310. Of particular note is Ubh-310, which would be “doubly magic” (both its proton number of 126 and neutron number of 184 are thought to be magic) and thus the most likely to have a very long half-life. (The next lighter doubly magic spherical nucleus is lead-208, the heaviest known stable nucleus and most stable heavy metal.)”
“Recently, interest has been expressed over the possibility of a second island of stability. The idea of a second island of stability was presented by Yuri Oganessian at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. This new island would be centered around element 164 (Unhexquadium), especially isotope Uhq-482, with a stability similar to that of flerovium.”
Here’s the scary part:
“ In particular, the very small critical masses of transplutonic elements (possibly as small as grams) implies that if stable elements could be found, they would enable small and compact nuclear bombs either directly or by serving as primaries to help ignite fission/fusion secondaries; this possibility motivated much of the early research and multiple nuclear tests by the United States (including Operation Plowshare) and the Soviet Union aimed at producing such elements.”
Imagine a tiny nuclear bomb requiring only a few grams of one of these elements! Currently, something like a pound and a half of fissionable material is required. See what I mean, if we create elements like these (for peaceful uses) then we can create far more powerful spacecraft to explore space.
The funny thing is that Christian cosmology always had room for extraterrestrials.
There was often speculation about whether the visible planets were sentient beings or were moved by sentient beings. But even without that, the Christian saw the heavens filled with millions and millions of angelic intelligences.
I suppose a half life with millions of years instead of nanoseconds might be possible. This “unexpectanium”, however, would likely be as extremely dangerous as difficult to produce.
Here’s another thought to ponder. Dark matter may be comprised of these heavier elements. We just don’t know how to look for it, nor how to detect it… yet. If there are islands of stability comprised of these unknown heavier elements, some of which may have a half life of millions of years, it would make sense that they exist in a natural state. They don’t have to wait for mankind to produce them, although we’ll try. Some theorize that this dark matter existed before the Big Bang; all matter that we refer to as lighter elements having been created by some interaction of the dark matter. Hopefully we’ll create a better telescope than the Hubble telescope that can help resolve these issues.
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