Black Hole Mass Related to Globular Cluster Numbers

A photo of the jet emitted by the black hole in galaxy M87

The mass a supermassive black hole at the center of a large galaxy has appears to be related to the number of globular cluster that particular galaxy contains, a new report suggests.

The data has been derived from a new investigation of the stars, which indicates that the two are somehow linked. The exact mechanisms underlying this connection are still unclear.

There are many such correlations in astronomy, experts say, even if some are arguably clearer than others. Given that the new connection was observed in several cases, scientists will continue to analyze it until they get to the bottom of it.

One interesting aspect of the new discovery is that it holds more value for some galaxies than for others. Astronomers say that finding out precisely why this happens is yet another mystery that needs solving.

In past studies, astrophysicists demonstrated that supermassive black holes exert numerous influences on their host galaxies, including regulating their growth.

In addition, these SMBH can also influence the total amount of dark matter massive galaxies contain, change the brightness of the bulges spiral galaxies have, and influence the masses of these bulges.

But astronomers also know that the luminosity of a galaxy and the amount of dark matter its halo contains are also influenced by the number of globular clusters the cosmic structure contains.

Researchers wanted to learn whether they could eliminate the intermediaries, and still maintain a direct correlation, between the SMBH and the number of clusters.

According to team leaders Andreas Burkert of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, in Germany, and Scott Tremaine, at the Princeton University, this is entirely possible.

The discovery hints at a previously-unknown regulation mechanism. It was confirmed in 13 different instances, the research team says.

Details of the investigation will be published in an upcoming issue of the esteemed scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The journal entry also features a follow-up on the original study, which includes case studies of 33 galaxies. Even with these increased number of instances, the correlation holds true.

Interestingly, it was found that the connection is especially true for elliptical galaxies. For lenticular galaxies, the team failed to uncover any correlation.

No reasons as to why that happens have yet been discovered, Universe Today reports.

Galaxies Caught in Massive Display of 'Cannibalism'

Stellar streams around the spiral galaxy M63

Astronomers have recently observed a series of large galaxies as they were consuming smaller versions of themselves, in order to increase their bulk and mass.

The fact that galaxies tend to collide and merge with each other is nothing new, and experts have been observing some of these cosmic events for many years.

One of them, the Antennae Galaxies, are even renowned around the world. They were imaged with Hubble a few years back, and have since become the unofficial symbol of galactic mergers.

At this point, astrophysicists believe that even the Milky Way engaged in such behavior in the past, when it started to gobble up smaller, dwarf galaxies in its surroundings.

Traces of those bodies can still be seen today, in the anomalous behavior and number of star clusters located throughout the galaxy, as well as in the properties of the supermassive black hole at its core.

But the new observations show for the first time galactic cannibalism taking place outside of the Milky Way's local neighborhood.

The research group, led by expert David Martinez-Delgado, found that dwarf galaxies appear to be heavily influenced by these collisions, especially as far as their shapes go.

Massive distortions appear, and some of the most common side effects of mergers include the development of tidal tails and tendrils, that completely surround and grasp the larger galaxy.

Martinez-Delgado, who holds a joint appointment at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, in Germany, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the Spanish Canary Islands, also collaborated with amateur astronomers for the research.

The expert says that the recent investigation proved the existence of galactic mergers in galaxies up to 50 million light-years,Space reports.

According to the research team, it would appear that the tidal tails are produced under the incredibly strong gravitational pull that the larger galaxies exert on the near side of smaller ones.

Their appearance is determined by the fact that stars are more distant from the larger galaxy lag behind those who are closer. The latter travel at much higher speeds.

The new scientific research will be published in the October issue of the esteemed Astronomical Journal.

Two Asteroids To Swing Past Earth Today

Experts at a NASA lab announce that two asteroids will pass close to our planet today, September 8. The two space rocks are in unrelated orbits, the team says, and pose no danger to Earth.

Each of the celestial bodies is a few meters in diameter, and wouldn't have caused any major damage if they were to strike anyway. What's interesting is that they will both move past the planet the same day, even if they come from very different orbits.

The attached graphic reveals the paths that the two asteroids will take as they swing past Earth. When they are nearest, they should become visible to amateur astronomers with moderate-sized telescopes.

Objects of this class, 10-meter-sized near-Earth asteroids, have a very small chance of hitting the planet overall, but a high chance of passing within lunar distance.

In fact, this happens once per day on average. Such a boulder slams into the atmosphere and burns up about once every 10 years.

Astronomers estimate that the undiscovered population of NEO orbiting the solar system in our vicinity could number as much as 50 million members.

The two new objects were discovered on Sunday, September 5, by the Tucson, Arizona-based Catalina Sky Survey, experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announce.

“Near-Earth asteroid 2010 RX30 is estimated to be 32 to 65 feet (10 to 20 meters) in size and will pass within 0.6 lunar distances of Earth (about 154,000 miles, or 248,000 kilometers) at 2:51 am PDT (5:51 a.m. EDT) Wednesday,” the team explains.

“The second object, 2010 RF12, estimated to be 20 to 46 feet (6 to 14 meters) in size, will pass within 0.2 lunar distances (about 49,088 miles or 79,000 kilometers) a few hours later at 2:12 pm PDT (5:12 pm EDT),” they add.

Keeping an eye on NEO is extremely important, given the large number of unknown space rocks that lurk in outer space. On top of that, our solar system features two asteroid belts.

Dangerous objects may exist in both of them, and more telescopes should be built to try and detect, identify and analyze them.

NASA's Spitzer and WISE have already been conducting such research for some time, but the sheer volume of work to be done is massive.

NGC 300 Imaged in Exquisite Detail

Following an observations campaign that lasted several years, astronomers at ESO finally managed to produce the most accurate and detailed image of the superb spiral galaxy NGC 300.

The formation is located relatively close by, in the Sculptor Group of galaxies, and it is widely considered to be one of the most easy-to-observe structures in the Southern Hemisphere.

The recent image was pieced together from a multitude of different observations, taken over a period of a few years, by experts using numerous color filters.

In total, it took about 50 hours of exposure time to collect the data necessary to create this view. The Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the ESO La Silla Observatory, in Chile, was the main instrument used for the job.

The European Southern Observatory has numerous facilities in Chile, a country that houses parts of the Atacama Desert. This is the most arid desert on the face of the planet, and also one of the driest.

Precipitations here are scarce, and clouds are almost unheard of, and this sets the perfect stage for astronomical observations.

This allowed the WFI to observe NGC 300 in exquisite detail, experts say. Other galaxies in the Sculptor Group that have been imaged using ESO telescopes include NGC 55, NGC 253, and NGC 7793.

Generally, the Group inconspicuous, but it is actually the home of numerous interesting galaxies. NGC 300 is no exception in this regard.

In fact, the thing that makes this galaxy is interesting is not some extreme characteristic, but rather the fact that it's perfectly normal.

Given its similarities to our own Milky Way, experts are analyzing it as a means of deriving more data on our home galaxy as well. We can't get out of the Milky Way yet, but we can observe it from a distance.

“The data was acquired over many observing nights, spanning several years,” the ESO experts say.

“The main purpose of this extensive observational campaign was to take an unusually thorough census of the stars in the galaxy, counting both the number and varieties of the stars, and marking regions, or even individual stars, that warrant deeper and more focused investigation,” they add.

“By observing the galaxy with filters that isolate the light coming specifically from hydrogen and oxygen, the many star-forming regions along NGC 300’s spiral arms are shown with particular clarity in this image as red and pink clouds,” the ESO team concludes.

Chaos Plagued the Early Universe

A new theory proposes that the earliest Universe, which formed immediately after the Big Bang, expanded in the space around it in an extremely chaotic manner.

This is not by far a new idea. It was proposed for the first time more than seven years ago, by Adilson E. Motter, who is a physics expert at the Northwestern University.

At the time when the idea was first conjectured, the physicist did not have the tools needed to prove it.

Now, with the help of a colleague, Motter finally managed to present the world with the mathematical utensils needed to demonstrate the theory rigorously.

Details of the work appear in a paper entitled “(Non)Invariance of Dynamical Quantities for Orbit Equivalent Flows,” which is published in the latest issue of the top-rated Journal Communications in Mathematical Physics.

The mathematical tools work extremely well when applied to the most widely-accepted model of how the Universe came to be.

The main conundrum the physicist was trying to crack is whether chaos is absolute or relative inside systems that are in themselves governed by general relativity.

In these systems, time itself is relative. For the purpose of the work, chaos was determined at the phenomenon by which tiny events lead to very large changes in the time evolution of a system.

The Universe therefore becomes a prime example of a chaotic system. An absolute thing, for example, is the speed of light, which remains the same regardless of where an observer is placed in time and space.

“A competing interpretation has been that chaos could be a property of the observer rather than a property of the system being observed,” says Motter, who is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

“Our study shows that different physical observers will necessarily agree on the chaotic nature of the system,” adds the expert, who is also the author of the new journal entry.

“Technically, we have established the conditions under which the indicators of chaos are relativistic invariants. Our mathematical characterization also explains existing controversial result,” Motter goes on to say.

“They were generated by singularities induced by the choice of the time coordinate, which are not present for physically admissible observables,” he concludes.

Why do we love Hubble.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LROC images - August 3-5, 2010

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Remnants of the Imbrium impact (Released 3 August 2010)
  Mare basalts embayed ejecta structures formed by the massive Imbrium impact.
• Concentric crater (Released 4 August 2010)
  The inner rim of Gruithuisen K.
• A path not taken (Released 5 August 2010)
  Mare surface in Sinus Aestuum near a lunar exploration site proposed in the late 1950s.

Hubble: Frenzied star birth in Haro 11

Haro 11 appears to shine gently amid clouds of gas and dust, but this placid facade belies the monumental rate of star formation occurring in this "starburst" galaxy.

By combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have created a new image of this incredibly bright and distant galaxy.

The team of astronomers from Stockholm University, Sweden, and the Geneva Observatory, Switzerland, have identified 200 separate clusters of very young, massive stars. Most of these are less than 10 million years old. Many of the clusters are so bright in infrared light that astronomers suspect that the stars are still emerging from the cloudy cocoons where they were born. The observations have led the astronomers to conclude that Haro 11 is most likely the result of a merger between a galaxy rich in stars and a younger, gas-rich galaxy. Haro 11 is found to produce stars at a frantic rate, converting about 20 solar masses of gas into stars every year.

Haro galaxies, first discovered by the noted astronomer Guillermo Haro in 1956, are defined by unusually intense blue and violet light. Usually this high energy radiation comes from the presence of many newborn stars or an active galactic nucleus. Haro 11 is about 300 million light-years away and is the second closest of such starburst galaxies.

The paper describing this result ("Super star clusters in Haro 11: Properties of a very young starburst and evidence for a near-infrared flux excess", by A. Adamo et al.) is available athttp://adsabs.harvard.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16983.x

STEREO Detect Impossibly Fast Solar Eruption

The twin components of the NASA Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission were recently able to detect one of the fastest and largest solar eruptions in recent history. On August 1, the Sun released a massive amount of matter and radiation, which sped away from the star at a whooping 2.2 million miles per hour. Despite this massive speed, the two spacecrafts were able to detect the event, and send their conclusions back to Earth, where researchers confirmed the discovery.

The large solar flare triggered a massive eruption called a coronal mass ejection (CME). This is one of the most dangerous things that can go on in the star, experts say. CME produce massive amounts of highly-energetic particles, which have the effect of a heavy bombardment on Earth's protective layer, the magnetosphere. The entire force of the ejection was unleashed on our planet on Tuesday, August 3, and the main result was a heavy intensification of the northern lights, the Aurora Borealis. We got off easy this time, solar physicists say, as larger CME can have devastating effects on our infrastructure.

Representatives of the American space agency said in a recent statement that “these kinds of eruptions are one of the first signs that the Sun is waking up and heading toward another solar maximum expected in the 2013 time frame.” The star functions in 11-year-old cycles, each of which contains a solar maximum and a minimum. These periods are named according to the amount of solar activity (sunspots, solar flares, CME) that takes place on the Sun's surface. Over the past two years, the star should have exited the minimum stage, and begin resuming its activity. But the minimum persisted, and it's only now that the Sun is beginning to show signs of recovery.

STEREO is in a unique position to conduct very accurate observations of the solar surface, given that its twin spacecrafts allow for it to look at the Sun in 3D. This allows solar physicists to get a depth-of-view in their studies, that is impossible with any other telescope. Not even the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), the most advanced Sun-watching instrument, can produce 3D views of its targets. STEREO is capable of doing this because its components fly apart from each other, providing independent views of the same event from two vantage points, Space reports.

Santa Fe Was Impacted by Huge Asteroid

Between 1.2 billion and 330 million years ago, the area near Santa Fe, New Mexico, was the site of a major asteroid impact. The conclusion belongs to a new study, which looked at an exposed mountain wall. The feature exposes a number of rock layers that look all the same to the eye of profane individuals, but which provide geologists with a wealth of data about Earth's distant past. It is estimated that the original impact crater was no less than between 6 and 13 kilometers in diameter, Space reports.

The reason why the timing of the impact cannot be determined with more accuracy is an anomaly known as the “Great Unconformity.” This means that the rock layers corresponding to the period stretching between 1.2-1.6 billion years and 330 million years ago are missing. This may have happened for a variety of reasons, but the leading theory is that a sea existed at this location a long time ago. This and other natural factors such as water receding, erosion, winds and so on, destroyed the rocks, which only began depositing ago when seas moved back on, 330 million years ago.

It was then that the first sediments were laid down again. This is why 1.2 billion year old layers of rock now lie directly underneath much newer ones. “We need an army of scientists and graduate students studying this site, over many, many years. It could take several lifetimes to do all the necessary work,” says University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics expert Horton Newsom. He conducted the work with colleagues Shawn Wright and Wolf Elston. He says that the team was amazed to learn that the rock layers are exposed directly.

This means that the team no longer needs digs in order to analyze the past events, just a lot of patience. “Such impact crater cross-sections are extremely rare in the world,” the expert says. He adds that the crater has long since been eroded entirely, but argues that additional studies of the site would help experts gain additional insights into how the impact affected the rocks underneath. The group will continue working in Santa Fe, with hopes that the actual size of the impact crater, as well as its age, will be accurately established.