The Universe
This thread includes items about our Universe. Please keep the pics within 5/post and 800x800, thanks! :badger: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080309.html CMBR Dipole: Speeding Through the Universe Credit: DMR, COBE, NASA, Four-Year Sky Map Explanation: Our Earth is not at rest. The Earth moves around the Sun. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Local Group falls toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. But these speeds are less than the speed that all of these objects together move relative to the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). In the above all-sky map from the COBE satellite, radiation in the Earth's direction of motion appears blueshifted and hence hotter, while radiation on the opposite side of the sky is redshifted and colder. The map indicates that the Local Group moves at about 600 kilometers per second relative to this primordial radiation. This high speed was initially unexpected and its magnitude is still unexplained. Why are we moving so fast? What is out there?

TRIPPY :lol: :lol:

You think that one's bad! Wrap your head around this sucker! :lol: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080330.html Weak Lensing Distorts the Universe Credit: S. Colombi (IAP), CFHT Team Explanation: Is the distant universe really what it appears to be? Astronomers hope not. Intervening dark matter, which is normally invisible, might show its presence by distorting images originating in the distant universe, much the way an old window distorts images originating on the other side. By noting the degree to which background galaxies appear unusually flat and unusually similar to neighbors, the dark matter distribution producing these weak gravitational lensing distortions can be estimated. Analysis of the shapes of 200,000 distant galaxies imaged with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) does indicate the presence of a massive network of distributed dark matter. Future results may even be able to discern details of the distribution. The above computer generated simulation image shows how dark matter, shown in red, distorts the light path from and apparent shape of distant galaxies, depicted in blue.

Intense stuff! It's amazing what some better optics can do! http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMQLPZXUFF_index_0.html GIF VID LINK: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMQLPZXUFF_index_1.html Flying through a filament XMM-Newton discovers part of missing matter in the universe 6 May 2008 ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has been used by a team of international astronomers to uncover part of the missing matter in the universe. 10 years ago, scientists predicted that about half of the ‘ordinary’ or normal matter made of atoms exists in the form of low-density gas, filling vast spaces between galaxies. All the matter in the universe is distributed in a web-like structure. At dense nodes of the cosmic web are clusters of galaxies, the largest objects in the universe. Astronomers suspected that the low-density gas permeates the filaments of the web. The low density of the gas hampered many attempts to detect it in the past. With XMM-Newton’s high sensitivity, astronomers have discovered its hot-*test*-('") parts. The discovery will help them understand the evolution of the cosmic web. Only about 5% of our universe is made of normal matter as we know it, consisting of protons and neutrons, or baryons, which along with electrons, form the building blocks of ordinary matter. The rest of our universe is composed of elusive dark matter (23%) and dark energy (72%). Galaxy clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223 Small as the percentage might be, half of the ordinary baryonic matter is unaccounted for. All the stars, galaxies and gas observable in the universe account for less than a half of all the baryons that should be around. Scientists predicted that the gas would have a high temperature and so it would primarily emit low-energy X-rays. But its very low density made observation difficult. Astronomers using XMM-Newton were observing a pair of galaxy clusters, Abell 222 and Abell 223, situated at a distance of 2300 million light-years from Earth, when the images and spectra of the system revealed a bridge of hot gas connecting the clusters. "The hot gas that we see in this bridge or filament is probably the hot-*test*-('") and densest part of the diffuse gas in the cosmic web, believed to constitute about half the baryonic matter in the universe," says Norbert Werner from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, leader of the team reporting the discovery. Cosmic web “The discovery of the warmest of the missing baryons is important. That’s because various models exist and they all predict that the missing baryons are some form of warm gas, but the models tend to disagree about the extremes,” adds Alexis Finoguenov, a team member. Even with XMM-Newton’s sensitivity, the discovery was only possible because the filament is along the line of sight, concentrating the emission from the entire filament in a small region of the sky. The discovery of this hot gas will help better understand the evolution of the cosmic web. "This is only the beginning. To understand the distribution of the matter within the cosmic web, we have to see more systems like this one. And ultimately launch a dedicated space observatory to observe the cosmic web with a much higher sensitivity than possible with current missions. Our result allows to set up reliable requirements for those new missions." concludes Norbert Werner. ESA’s XMM-Newton Project Scientist, Norbert Schartel, comments on the discovery, “This important breakthrough is great news for the mission. The gas has been detected after hard work and more importantly, we now know where to look for it. I expect many follow-up studies with XMM-Newton in the future targeting such highly promising regions in the sky.” For more information: Norbert Werner, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Email: N.Werner @ sron.nl Norbert Schartel, ESA XMM-Newton Project Scientist Email: Norbert.Schartel @ esa.int Notes for editors: The article 'Detection of hot gas in the filament connecting the clusters of galaxies Abell 222 and Abell 223', by N. Werner, A. Finoguenov, J. Kaastra, A. Simionescu, J. Dietrich, J. Vink and H. Böhringer' has been published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters on 17 March 2008. The team of astronomers that made the discovery includes N. Werner (SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research), A. Finoguenov (MPE, Germany), A. Simionescu, H. Böhringer (MPE, Germany), J. Kaastra (SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Utrecht University, Netherlands), J. Dietrich (ESO, Germany) and J. Vink (Utrecht University, Netherlands).

Shatter the mind with this right here! :lol: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/20/full/ News Release Number: STScI-2008-20 Hubble Survey Finds Missing Matter, Probes Intergalactic Web * Introduction * The Full Story * Release Images * Related Links The full news release story: Hubble Survey Finds Missing Matter, Probes Intergalactic WebView this image Although the universe contains billions of galaxies, only a small amount of its matter is locked up in these behemoths. Most of the universe's matter that was created during and just after the Big Bang must be found elsewhere. Now, in an extensive search of the local universe, astronomers say they have definitively found about half of the missing normal matter, called baryons, in the spaces between the galaxies. This important component of the universe is known as the "intergalactic medium," or IGM, and it extends essentially throughout all of space, from just outside our Milky Way galaxy to the most distant regions of space observed by astronomers. The questions "where have the local baryons gone, and what are their properties?" are being answered with greater certainty than ever before. "We think we are seeing the strands of a web-like structure that forms the backbone of the universe," Mike Shull of the University of Colorado explained. "What we are confirming in detail is that intergalactic space, which intuitively might seem to be empty, is in fact the reservoir for most of the normal, baryonic matter in the universe." Hubble observations made nearly a decade ago by Todd Tripp and colleagues first reported finding the hot-*test*-('") portion of this missing matter in the local universe. That study utilized spectroscopic observations of one quasar to look for absorbing intergalactic gas along the path to the quasar. In the May 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, Charles Danforth and Shull report on observations taken along sight-lines to 28 quasars. Their analysis represents the most detailed observations to date of how the IGM looks within about four billion light-years of Earth. Baryons are protons, neutrons, and other subatomic particles that make up ordinary matter such as hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements. Baryonic matter forms stars, planets, moons, and even the interstellar gas and dust from which new stars are born. Astronomers caution that the missing baryonic matter is not to be confused with "dark matter," a mysterious and exotic form of matter that is only detected via its gravitational pull. Danforth and Shull, of the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder, looked for the missing baryonic matter by using the light from distant quasars (the bright cores of galaxies with active black holes) to probe spider-web-like structure that permeates the seemingly invisible space between galaxies, like shining a flashlight through fog. Using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), the astronomers found hot gas, mostly oxygen and hydrogen, which provide a three-dimensional probe of intergalactic space. STIS and FUSE found the spectral "fingerprints" of intervening oxygen and hydrogen superimposed on the quasars' light. The bright quasar light was measured to penetrate more than 650 filaments of hydrogen in the cosmic web. Eighty-three filaments were found laced with highly ionized oxygen in which five electrons have been stripped away. The presence of highly ionized oxygen (and other elements) between the galaxies is believed to trace large quantities of invisible, hot, ionized hydrogen in the universe. These vast reservoirs of hydrogen have largely escaped detection because they are too hot to be seen in visible light, yet too cool to be seen in X-rays. The oxygen "tracer" was probably created when exploding stars in galaxies spewed the oxygen back into intergalactic space where it mixed with the pre-existing hydrogen via a shockwave which heated the oxygen to very high temperatures. The team also found that about 20 percent of the baryons reside in the voids between the web-like filaments. Within these voids could be faint dwarf galaxies or wisps of matter that could turn into stars and galaxies in billions of years. Probing this vast cosmic web will be a key goal for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), a new science instrument that astronauts plan to install on Hubble during Servicing Mission 4 later this year. "COS will allow us to make more robust and more detailed core samples of the cosmic web," Shull said. "We predict that COS will find considerably more of the missing baryonic matter." "Our goal is to confirm the existence of the cosmic web by mapping its structure, measuring the amount of heavy metals found in it, and measuring its temperature. Studying the cosmic web gives us information on how galaxies built up over time." The COS team hopes to observe 100 additional quasars and build up a survey of more than 10,000 hydrogen filaments in the cosmic web, many laced with heavy elements from early stars. CONTACT Donna Weaver/Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. 410-338-4493/4514 dweaver@stsci.edu/villard@stsci.edu Mike Shull University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. 303-492-7827 mshull@casa.colorado.edu

Editted that last one a bit, there ya go :grin:

WOW THE BORG OF COSMOS HAS COME!

BEHOLD..... UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!! :megaman: Gotta love a new universe shot, woot. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080828.html Fermi's First Light Credit: NASA, DOE, International LAT Team Explanation: Launched on June 11 to explore the universe at extreme energies, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope has been officially renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, in honor of Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), pioneer in high-energy physics. After -*test*-('")ing, Fermi's two instruments, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and the Large Area Telescope (LAT), are now regularly returning data. Fermi's first map of the gamma-ray sky from the LAT is shown in this false-color image, an all-sky view that looks toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy with the galactic plane projected across the middle. What shines in the gamma-ray sky? Along the galactic plane, energetic cosmic rays collide with gas and dust to produce the diffuse gamma-ray glow. Strong emission from spinning neutron stars or pulsars, and distant active galaxies known as blazars, can be identified by placing your cursor over the map. A prelude to future discoveries, the remarkable result combines only 4 days of observations, equivalent to a year of observations with the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory mission of the 1990s. In addition to the ability to monitor gamma-ray bursts, the greatly improved sensitivity will allow Fermi to look deeper into the high-energy Universe.

XMM-Newton's massive discovery 25 August 2008 ESA's orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has discovered the most massive cluster of galaxies seen in the distant Universe until now. The galaxy cluster is so big that there can only be a handful of them at that distance, making this a rare catch indeed. The discovery confirms the existence of dark energy. http://asimov.esrin.esa.int/esaCP/SEMY70XIPIF_index_0.html http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/32/ August 27, 2008 10:00 AM (EDT) News Release Number: STScI-2008-32 A Clash of Clusters Provides New Clue to Dark Matter * Introduction * Release Images * Fast Facts * Related Links A Clash of Clusters Provides New Clue to Dark MatterGo to image download page A powerful collision of galaxy clusters has been captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The observations of the cluster known as MACS J0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated the dark from ordinary matter and provide an independent confirmation of a similar effect detected previously in a target dubbed the Bullet Cluster. These new results show that the Bullet Cluster is not an anomalous case. Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: MACS J0025.4−1222 Object Description: Galaxy Cluster Position (J2000): R.A. 00h 25m 29s.80 Dec. -12° 22' 46".99 Constellation: Cetus Distance: This object has a redshift of z = 0.586. It is on the order of billions of light-years away. Dimensions: This image is 3.2 arcminutes (4.2 million light-years or 1.3 million parsecs) wide. About the Data Science Team: This image was created from HST data from proposals 10703: PI H. Ebeling, University of Hawaii) and 11100: PI M. Bradac (University of California, Santa Barbara). It was composited with X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrograph, from proposals: 3251 and 5010: PI S. Allen (Stanford University). The science team includes M. Bradac (University of California, Santa Barbara), S. Allen (Stanford University), T. Treu (University of California, Santa Barbara), H. Ebeling (University of Hawaii), R. Massey (Royal Observatory, Edinburgh), and G. Morris, A. von der Linden, and D. Applegate (Stanford University). Instrument: ACS and WFPC2 Exposure Date(s): November 5, 2006 and June 6, 2007 Filters: F450W (B), F555W (V), and F814W (I) About the Release Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, M. Bradac (University of California, Santa Barbara), and S. Allen (Stanford University) Release Date: August 27, 2008 Color: The image is a composite of separate exposures made by Hubble Space Telescope ACS and WFPC2 detectors and the Chandra ACIS detector. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: X-ray violet F450W (B) blue F555W (V) and F814W (I) yellow/cyan Orientation/Scale: Aug. 26, 2008 J.D. Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-5241 j.d.harrington@nasa.gov David Harris Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, Calif. 650-926-8580 david.harris@slac.stanford.edu Lynn Cominsky Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Calif. 707-664-2655 lynnc@universe.sonoma.edu RELEASE: 08-214 NASA RENAMES OBSERVATORY FOR FERMI, REVEALS ENTIRE GAMMA-RAY SKY WASHINGTON -- NASA's newest observatory, the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, has begun its mission of exploring the universe in high-energy gamma rays. The spacecraft and its revolutionary instruments passed their orbital checkout with flying colors. NASA announced today that GLAST has been renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The new name honors Prof. Enrico Fermi (1901 - 1954), a pioneer in high-energy physics. "Enrico Fermi was the first person to suggest how cosmic particles could be accelerated to high speeds," said Paul Hertz, chief scientist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "His theory provides the foundation for understanding the new phenomena his namesake telescope will discover." Scientists expect Fermi will discover many new pulsars in our own galaxy, reveal powerful processes near supermassive black holes at the cores of thousands of active galaxies and enable a search for signs of new physical laws. For two months following the spacecraft's June 11 launch, scientists -*test*-('")ed and calibrated its two instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT team today unveiled an all-sky image showing the glowing gas of the Milky Way, blinking pulsars, and a flaring galaxy billions of light-years away. The map combines 95 hours of the instrument's "first light" observations. A similar image, produced by NASA's now-defunct Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, took years of observations to produce. The image shows gas and dust in the plane of the Milky Way glowing in gamma rays due to collisions with accelerated nuclei called cosmic rays. The famous Crab Nebula and Vela pulsars also shine brightly at these wavelengths. These fast-spinning neutron stars, which form when massive stars die, were originally discovered by their radio emissions. The image's third pulsar, named Geminga and located in Gemini, is not a radio source. It was discovered by an earlier gamma-ray satellite. Fermi is expected to discover many more radio-quiet pulsars, providing key information about how these exotic objects work. A fourth bright spot in the LAT image lies some 7.1 billion light-years away, far beyond our galaxy. This is 3C 454.3 in Pegasus, a type of active galaxy called a blazar. It's now undergoing a flaring episode that makes it especially bright. The LAT scans the entire sky every three hours when operating in survey mode, which will occupy most of the telescope's observing time during the first year of operations. These fast snapshots will let scientists monitor rapidly changing sources. The instrument detects photons with energies ranging from 20 million electron volts to over 300 billion electron volts. The high end of this range, which corresponds to energies more than 5 million times greater than dental X-rays, is little explored. The spacecraft's secondary instrument, the GBM, spotted 31 gamma-ray bursts in its first month of operations. These high-energy blasts occur when massive stars die or when orbiting neutron stars spiral together and merge. The GBM is sensitive to less energetic gamma rays than the LAT. Bursts seen by both instruments will provide an unprecedented look across a broad gamma-ray spectrum, enabling scientists to peer into the processes powering these events. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the U.S. For more information, images and animations on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/glast -end-