Tag Archives: faraway

A Faraway Galaxy Entangled in a Cosmic Web

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Simulation of Large-Scale Galactic Structures

Illustris Collaboration/ESO

A cosmic network is disrupting a galaxy’s star-forming abilities. Galaxies require gas to generate stars, and a distant dwarf galaxy, nearly 100 million light-years away, is being deprived of this essential material by an expansive web of cosmic constituents.

While one half of the galaxy known as AGC 727130 seems relatively normal, its opposite side shows gas stretching well beyond its perimeter, being torn apart by unseen forces. Researchers from Columbia University in New York identified this collapsing galaxy utilizing the Very Large Array, a radio observatory situated in New Mexico Nicholas Luber.

Even though AGC 727130 is in proximity to two other dwarf galaxies, the researchers concluded that it isn’t close enough to engage with them in a way that would create turbulent gas. Their findings imply that the gas is expelled through a mechanism known as ram pressure stripping. This occurs when a galaxy traverses an intragalactic cloud—in this case, part of the cosmic web—leaving behind its gas. Without this gas, galaxies become “quenched” and are unable to create new stars.

The filamentous structures in the cosmic web are so slender that it would likely take more than one filament to strip gas from a galaxy, yet AGC 727130 resides at the junction of multiple filaments. “The concept that a cosmic web could extract gas from galaxies through collisional pressure is not surprising and likely happens frequently, but it’s challenging to confirm,” states Luber. “We were fortunate to observe this phenomenon.”

Identifying such galaxies poses a challenge because the gas removal is a gradual process, and galaxies that have already lost their gas tend to be exceedingly faint. “What’s intriguing about this outcome is that low-mass extinguished dwarf galaxies are exceptionally rare; only a few, less than 0.06 percent, are believed to exist without a substantial host galaxy,” comments Julia Blue Bird, a radio astronomer based in New Mexico.

Even among that limited number of extinguished dwarf galaxies, only a scant few have had their gas stripped by the cosmic web rather than through interactions with other galaxies. “This might be… the first definitive case of such an occurrence,” remarks Jacqueline Van Gorcom from Columbia University. Several large radio telescopes are poised to unveil new gas maps across extensive regions of the universe, which could provide additional insights regarding these galaxies.

This discovery is crucial in addressing a cosmological dilemma known as the missing satellite problem. Current cosmological models suggest there should be significantly more dwarf galaxies orbiting larger ones than we currently observe. “We struggle to find many quenched dwarfs; is it because they’re hard to detect, or are they simply not present? This suggests that quenching may also be occurring far from larger galaxies,” states team member Sabrina Stierwalt from Occidental College in California. Uncovering additional galaxies quenched by the cosmic web could help reconcile discrepancies between model predictions and actual observations.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astronomers unveil the atmospheric composition of Topsitterby on a faraway planet

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Three layers of the atmosphere of a giant tyro gas

ESO/m. Cone Messer

The atmosphere of a distant world is mapped in detail for the first time, revealing a strange, dizzy weather system, and the fastest winds ever blew inexplicably around the Earth's stratosphere.

Astronomers have been studying the WASP-121B, also known as Tylos, since 2015. A planet 900 light years away is a vast ball of gas twice the size of Jupiter, and the stars orbit very closely and complete their perfect orbit. Only 30 Earth Time. This close orbit heats the planet's atmosphere to a temperature of 2500°C, and is hot enough to boil iron.

now, Julia Seidel Chile and her colleagues' observatory in southern Europe use a very large telescope at the observatory to see in the burnt, hot atmosphere of Tyros, with at least three different layers of gas in different directions around the planet. I found out there. I've seen it before. “It's absolutely crazy, it's a science fiction-like pattern and behavior,” Seidel says.

The atmosphere of our solar system planets is driven by the internal temperature difference, whereas the winds in the upper layers are more affected by the temperature difference, and the strong wind flows are more affected by the temperature difference. shares a similar structure to Created by the heat of the sun, it warms the daylight side of the planet, while the other warms.

However, in the atmosphere of Tyros, it is driven by heat from the planetary stars, and it is the lower wind that moves away from the warm surface, but the jetstream is primarily in the middle layer of the atmosphere, surrounding the equator of Tyros. It looks like it's moving. In the direction of the planet's rotation. The upper layer also exhibits jetstream-like characteristics, but hydrogen gas floats outward from the planet. This is difficult to explain using current models, Seidel says. “What we're looking at now is actually the opposite of what comes out of theory.”

Furthermore, Tylos' jetstream is the most powerful ever, blasting at about 70,000 km/h on half the planet. This is almost twice as much as the previous record holder. It is unknown what exactly drives this velocity, but researchers believe it is caused by the planet's strong magnetic field or by ultraviolet rays from the stars. “This could change the flow pattern, but this is all very speculative,” Seidel says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Study suggests a remarkably faraway asteroid could have been responsible for dinosaur extinction

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Research has shown that the asteroid responsible for the mass extinction that annihilated the dinosaurs 66 million years ago originated from a distant region in the solar system, unlike most asteroids that have collided with Earth.

According to European and American researchers, the dinosaur-killing asteroid formed in a cold area outside Jupiter’s orbit and contained high levels of water and carbon. Survey results The study detailing these findings was published in the journal Science on Thursday.

In their analysis of objects that have struck Earth in the last 500 million years, the researchers noted that only asteroids rich in water have caused mass extinctions like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Co-author François Tissot, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, explained that asteroids originating closer to the sun were significantly drier.

Tissot further stated, “All other impacts that occurred were from objects closer to the sun and just happened to hit that specific spot, so the asteroid responsible for the dinosaur extinction is truly unique in both its characteristics and origin.”

This catastrophic asteroid created the Chicxulub crater in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. While direct samples of the asteroid itself were unattainable due to its fragmentation, researchers were able to analyze particles that were dispersed upon impact and settled in Earth’s strata.

The researchers specifically examined ruthenium, a rare element on Earth that can be linked back to the asteroid.

The study confirmed earlier conclusions that classified the asteroid as a carbonaceous, or C-type, asteroid, though some theories proposed it could have been a comet that caused the dinosaur extinction.

Tissot explained, “Comets originate from great distances from the sun and are primarily composed of ice and dust. While the ruthenium levels of a comet have not been measured, based on research indicating other elements, it seems highly improbable that the extinction-causing object was a comet.”

According to Tissot, this study represents progress in understanding the evolution of Earth.

“By delving into Earth’s history, we now have a comprehensive look at its evolution,” he remarked. “This allows us to pose new questions about our planet.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

London’s Medieval Horses Originated from Faraway Lands

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International trade may have helped medieval elites obtain the best horses for jousting tournaments

Prisma Archive / Alamy

Analysis of horse teeth unearthed in a London cemetery suggests that the horses owned by medieval England's elite were likely imported from continental Europe and may have traveled hundreds of kilometers.

In the 1990s, a commercial excavator accidentally discovered an unusually large horse burial ground in central London. Subsequent excavations at the site, now known as Elberton Street Cemetery, uncovered the full or partial remains of 70 horses. Some graves date him from 1425 to 1517, but the cemetery may have been in use over a wider period.

“This is a great example of the only true horse cemetery in medieval England,” he says. Oliver Clayton at the University of Exeter, UK. “We usually [horse remains] Very few are scattered on archaeological sites. ”

To learn more about the origins and lives of these medieval horses, Creighton and his colleagues collected and analyzed molars from 15 horses buried at the site.

Plants from different parts of the world contain different levels of carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes, or atoms with different numbers of neutrons. When animals eat these plants, these isotopes accumulate in their bones and teeth over time. By analyzing the chemical signature of the horse's teeth, the researchers were able to determine where it likely came from.

It said this revealed that at least seven people came from abroad, possibly from Scandinavia or the Western Alps. alexander pryoralso at the University of Exeter.

“These were also the largest medieval horses ever discovered in Britain,” Pryor said, noting that Britain's elite may have sought out the best horses from Europe. Suggests.

The arrangement of their teeth seemed to suggest the use of special mouthpieces normally reserved for horses groomed for combat and jousting tournaments.

“The horse likely came from the equestrian arena at the Palace of Westminster, just a kilometer away,” Clayton said.

“The nature of horse teeth, with their very tall crowns growing over many years, offers great potential for research using isotopes to track the movements of individual horses over their lifetime,” he said. To tell. david orton At York University, UK. “But this is the first paper I've seen that seems to take full advantage of that potential.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Hubble Telescope uncovers countless faraway galaxies in the constellation Cetus

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New infrared images taken with wide field camera 3 (WFC3) onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows dozens of galaxies in the constellation Cetus, including SDSS J020941.27+001558.4, SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, and HerS J020941.1+001557. Masu.

This Hubble image shows a variety of distant galaxies in the constellation Cetus. Most galaxies are very small, but there are also some larger galaxies and some stars that can be seen in detail. At its center is an elliptical galaxy with a bright nucleus and a wide disk. A reddish, distorted ring of light surrounds its center, thicker on one side. Small galaxies intersect the rings as bright spots. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Nayyeri / L. Marchetti / J. Lowenthal.

“What are we looking at when we study this image?” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“A distant galaxy 19.5 billion light-years away from Earth? Or a much closer (relatively) tiny glowing red galaxy 2.7 billion light-years away? Or a third galaxy that appears to be much closer to the second galaxy? Is not it?”

“The answer, perhaps confusingly, is that we are considering all three.”

“More precisely, we see light emitted from all of these galaxies, even though the farthest galaxy from Earth is directly behind the first.”

“In fact, it's that very alignment that makes the particular visuals of this image possible.”

“The bright spot in the center of this image is one of our closest galaxies, known by a long (but informative) name. SDSS J020941.27+001558.4,” they said.

“Another bright spot above it appears to be intersected by a curved crescent of light, SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, is the second closest galaxy. ”

“And finally, that curved crescent of light itself is 'lensed' light from a very distant galaxy. Girlfriend J020941.1+001557”

Her J020941.1+001557 light was bent by the gravity of the foreground galaxy and expanded into a circular shape called an Einstein ring.

“Einstein rings occur when light from a very distant object bends around a large intermediate object,” the astronomers said.

“This is possible because the fabric of the universe itself, spacetime, is bent by mass, and so is light traveling through spacetime.”

“This is too subtle to observe at a local level, but when dealing with the curvature of light on large astronomical scales, for example when light emitted from a galaxy bends around another galaxy or galaxy cluster, , may become clearly observable.”

“When the lensed object and the lensed object are aligned in such a way, the result is a unique Einstein ring shape, with a complete or partial ring around the lensed object, depending on the precision of the alignment. A circle of light appears.

“This partial Einstein ring is of particular interest because it was identified thanks to a citizen science project. space warp — means that the public made the discovery of this object possible. ”

Source: www.sci.news