A visible light image from ESO of the reflection nebula Messier 78. Credit: ESO and Igor Chekalin
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Here’s another “Hidden Treasure” from the European Southern Observatory, from the astrophotography competition where amateurs create images from unused ESO data. In this new image of Messier 78, brilliant starlight ricochets off dust particles in the nebula, illuminating it with scattered blue light and creating what is called a reflection nebula. Almost like fog around a street light, a reflection nebula shines only with the light from an embedded source that illuminates the dust. This image was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Comparing this image with others previously taken of Messier 78 shows that remarkably, this object has changed significantly in the last ten years.
Messier 78 can easily be observed with a small telescope, being one of the brightest reflection nebulae in the sky. It lies about 1350 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) and can be found northeast of the easternmost star of Orion’s belt.
For those of you who want to take a look on your own:
Right Ascension: 05:46.7
Declination: +00:03
Distance: 1.6 (kly)
Visual Brightness: Magnitude 8.3
This image contains many other striking features apart from the glowing nebula. A thick band of obscuring dust stretches across the image from the upper left to the lower right, blocking the light from background stars. In the bottom right corner, many curious pink structures are also visible, which are created by jets of material being ejected from stars that have recently formed and are still buried deep in dust clouds.
Two bright stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are the main powerhouses behind Messier 78. However, the nebula is home to many more stars, including a collection of about 45 low mass, young stars (less than 10 million years old) in which the cores are still too cool for hydrogen fusion to start, known as T Tauri stars. Studying T Tauri stars is important for understanding the early stages of star formation and how planetary systems are created.
Messier 78 region taken in 2006 (below) with the 4-metre Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona with a new image from ESO.Credit: ESO/T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF and Igor Chekalin
But this object has changed significantly in the last ten years. In February 2004 the experienced amateur observer Jay McNeil took an image of this region with a 75 mm telescope and was surprised to see a bright nebula — the prominent fan shaped feature near the bottom of this picture — where nothing was seen on most earlier images. This object is now known as McNeil’s Nebula and it appears to be a highly variable reflection nebula around a young star.
This color picture was created from many monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow/green and red filters, supplemented by exposures through an H-alpha filter that shows light from glowing hydrogen gas. The total exposure times were 9, 9, 17.5 and 15.5 minutes per filter, respectively.
Artist's conception of the event horizon of a black hole. Credit: Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo Library
Ever since scientists first discovered the existence of black holes in our universe, we have all wondered: what could possibly exist beyond the veil of that terrible void? In addition, ever since the theory of General Relativity was first proposed, scientists have been forced to wonder, what could have existed before the birth of the Universe – i.e. before the Big Bang?
Interestingly enough, these two questions have come to be resolved (after a fashion) with the theoretical existence of something known as a Gravitational Singularity – a point in space-time where the laws of physics as we know them break down. And while there remain challenges and unresolved issues about this theory, many scientists believe that beneath veil of an event horizon, and at the beginning of the Universe, this was what existed.
Definition:
In scientific terms, a gravitational singularity (or space-time singularity) is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system. In other words, it is a point in which all physical laws are indistinguishable from one another, where space and time are no longer interrelated realities, but merge indistinguishably and cease to have any independent meaning.
This artist’s impression depicts a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disc. Credit: ESA/Hubble, ESO, M. Kornmesse
Origin of Theory:
Singularities were first predicated as a result of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which resulted in the theoretical existence of black holes. In essence, the theory predicted that any star reaching beyond a certain point in its mass (aka. the Schwarzschild Radius) would exert a gravitational force so intense that it would collapse.
At this point, nothing would be capable of escaping its surface, including light. This is due to the fact the gravitational force would exceed the speed of light in vacuum – 299,792,458 meters per second (1,079,252,848.8 km/h; 670,616,629 mph).
This phenomena is known as the Chandrasekhar Limit, named after the Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who proposed it in 1930. At present, the accepted value of this limit is believed to be 1.39 Solar Masses (i.e. 1.39 times the mass of our Sun), which works out to a whopping 2.765 x 1030 kg (or 2,765 trillion trillion metric tons).
Another aspect of modern General Relativity is that at the time of the Big Bang (i.e. the initial state of the Universe) was a singularity. Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking both developed theories that attempted to answer how gravitation could produce singularities, which eventually merged together to be known as the Penrose–Hawking Singularity Theorems.
The Big Bang Theory: A history of the Universe starting from a singularity and expanding ever since. Credit: grandunificationtheory.com
According to the Penrose Singularity Theorem, which he proposed in 1965, a time-like singularity will occur within a black hole whenever matter reaches certain energy conditions. At this point, the curvature of space-time within the black hole becomes infinite, thus turning it into a trapped surface where time ceases to function.
The Hawking Singularity Theorem added to this by stating that a space-like singularity can occur when matter is forcibly compressed to a point, causing the rules that govern matter to break down. Hawking traced this back in time to the Big Bang, which he claimed was a point of infinite density. However, Hawking later revised this to claim that general relativity breaks down at times prior to the Big Bang, and hence no singularity could be predicted by it.
Some more recent proposals also suggest that the Universe did not begin as a singularity. These includes theories like Loop Quantum Gravity, which attempts to unify the laws of quantum physics with gravity. This theory states that, due to quantum gravity effects, there is a minimum distance beyond which gravity no longer continues to increase, or that interpenetrating particle waves mask gravitational effects that would be felt at a distance.
Types of Singularities:
The two most important types of space-time singularities are known as Curvature Singularities and Conical Singularities. Singularities can also be divided according to whether they are covered by an event horizon or not. In the case of the former, you have the Curvature and Conical; whereas in the latter, you have what are known as Naked Singularities.
A Curvature Singularity is best exemplified by a black hole. At the center of a black hole, space-time becomes a one-dimensional point which contains a huge mass. As a result, gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely, and the laws of physics as we know them cease to function.
Conical singularities occur when there is a point where the limit of every general covariance quantity is finite. In this case, space-time looks like a cone around this point, where the singularity is located at the tip of the cone. An example of such a conical singularity is a cosmic string, a type of hypothetical one-dimensional point that is believed to have formed during the early Universe.
And, as mentioned, there is the Naked Singularity, a type of singularity which is not hidden behind an event horizon. These were first discovered in 1991 by Shapiro and Teukolsky using computer simulations of a rotating plane of dust that indicated that General Relativity might allow for “naked” singularities.
In this case, what actually transpires within a black hole (i.e. its singularity) would be visible. Such a singularity would theoretically be what existed prior to the Big Bang. The key word here is theoretical, as it remains a mystery what these objects would look like.
For the moment, singularities and what actually lies beneath the veil of a black hole remains a mystery. As time goes on, it is hoped that astronomers will be able to study black holes in greater detail. It is also hoped that in the coming decades, scientists will find a way to merge the principles of quantum mechanics with gravity, and that this will shed further light on how this mysterious force operates.
[/caption]Overcoming the pull of gravity and fighting acceleration are major challenges for scientists looking to achieve flight and/or high-speed transportation. One way that they overcome this is the modern and growing technology known as Magnetic Levitation. Relying on rare earth magnets, superconductors, electromagnets and diamagnets, magnetic levitation is now used for maglev trains, magnetic bearings and for product display purposes. Today, maglev transportation is one of the fastest growing means of transportation in industrialized countries. This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems and the power needed for levitation is usually not a particularly large percentage of the overall consumption; most of it being used to overcome air drag. In William Gibson’s novel Spook Country, maglev technology was also featured in the form of a “maglev bed”, a bed which used magnets to stay suspended in midair.
Magnetic levitation (aka. maglev or magnetic suspension) is the method by which an object is suspended with no support other than magnetic fields. According to Earnshaw’s theorem (a theory which is usually referenced to magnetic fields), it is impossible to stably levitate against gravity relying solely on static ferromagnetism. However, maglev technology overcomes this through a number of means. These include, but are not limited to, mechanical constraint (or pseudo-levitation), diamagnetism levitation, superconductors, rotational stabilization, servomechanisms, induced currents and strong focusing.
Pseudo-levitation relies on two magnets that are mechanically arranged to repel each other strongly, or are attracted but constrained from touching by a tensile member, such as a string or cable. Another example is the Zippe-type centrifuge where a cylinder is suspended under an attractive magnet, and stabilized by a needle beading from below. Diamagnetic levitation occurs when diamagnetic material is placed in close proximity to material that produces a magnetic field, thus repelling the diamagnetic material. Superconductor-levitation is achieved much the same way, superconductors being a perfect diamagne. Due to the Meissner effect, superconductors also have the property of having completely expelled their magnetic fields, allowing for further stability.
The first commercial maglev people mover was simply called “MAGLEV” and officially opened in 1984 near Birmingham, England. It operated on an elevated 600-metre (2,000 ft) section of monorail track between Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station, running at speeds up to 42 km/h (26 mph). Perhaps the most well-known implementation of high-speed maglev technology currently in operation is the Shanghai Maglev Train, a working model of the German-built Transrapid train that transports people 30 km (19 mi) to the airport in just 7 minutes 20 seconds, achieving a top speed of 431 km/h and averaging 250 km/h.
We have written many articles about magnetic levitation for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the uses of electromagnets, and here’s an article about how magnets work.
If you’d like more info on the magnetic levitation, check out these articles from How Stuff Works and Hyperphysics.
[/caption]A magnetic field is a pretty awesome thing. As a fundamental force of the universe, they are something without which, planetary orbits, moving electrical charges, or even elementary particles could not exist. It is therefore intrinsic to scientific research that we be able to generate magnetic fields ourselves for the purpose of studying electromagnetism and its fundamental characteristics. One way to do this is with a device known as the Helmholtz Coil, an instrument that is named in honor of German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), a scientist and philosopher who made fundamental contributions to the fields of physiology, optics, mathematics, and meteorology in addition to electrodynamics.
A Helmholtz coil is a device for producing a region of nearly uniform magnetic field. It consists of two identical circular magnetic coils that are placed symmetrically, one on each side of the experimental area along a common axis, and separated by a distance (h) equal to the radius (R) of the coil. Each coil carries an equal electrical current flowing in the same direction. A number of variations exist, including use of rectangular coils, and numbers of coils other than two. However, a two-coil Helmholtz pair is the standard model, with coils that are circular and in shape and flat on the sides. In such a device, electric current is passed through the coil for the purpose of creating a very uniform magnetic field.
Helmholtz coils are used for a variety of purposes. In one instance, they were used in an argon tube experiment to measure the charge to mass ratio (e:m)of electrons. In addition, they are often used to measure the strength and fields of permanent magnets. In order to do this, the coil pair is connected to a fluxmeter, a device which contains measuring coils and electronics that evaluate the change of voltage in the measuring coils to calculate the overall magnetic flux.In some applications, a Helmholtz coil is used to cancel out Earth’s magnetic field, producing a region with a magnetic field intensity much closer to zero. This can be used to see how electrical charges and magnetic fields operate when not acted on by the gravitational pull of the Earth or other celestial bodies.
In a Helmholtz girl, the magnetic flux density of a field generated (represented by B) can be expressed mathematically by the equation:
Where R is the radius of the coils, n is the number of turns in each coil, I is the current flowing through the coils, and ?0 is the permeability of free space (1.26 x 10-6 T • m/A).
We have written many articles about the Helmholtz Coil for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the right hand rule magnetic field, and here’s an article about magnetic field.
If you’d like more info on the Helmholtz Coil, check out an article from Hyperphysics. Also, here’s another article about the Helmholtz Coil.
[/caption]It has long been known that all molecules possess two equal and opposite charges which are separated by a certain distance. This separation of positive and negative charges is what is referred to as an electric dipole, meaning that it essentially has two poles. In the case of such polar molecules, the center of negative charge does not coincide with the center of positive charge. The extent of polarity in such covalent molecules can be described by the term Dipole Moment, which is essentially the measure of polarity in a polar covalent bond.
The simplest example of a dipole is a water molecule. A molecule of water is polar because of the unequal sharing of its electrons in a “bent” structure. The water molecule forms an angle, with hydrogen atoms at the tips and oxygen at the vertex. Since oxygen has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen, the side of the molecule with the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge while the hydrogen, in the center, has a partial positive charge. Because of this, the direction of the dipole moment points towards the oxygen.
In the language of physics, the electric dipole moment is a measure of the separation of positive and negative electrical charges in a system of charges, that is, a measure of the charge system’s overall polarity – i.e. the separation of the molecules electric charge, which leads to a dipole. Mathematically, and in the simple case of two point charges, one with charge +q and one with charge ?q, the electric dipole moment p can be expressed as:p=qd, where d is the displacement vector pointing from the negative charge to the positive charge. Thus, the electric dipole moment vector p points from the negative charge to the positive charge.
Another way to look at it is to represent the Dipole Moment by the Greek letter m, m = ed, where e is the electrical charge and d is the distance of separation. It is expressed in the units of Debye and written as D (where 1 Debye = 1 x 10-18e.s.u cm). A dipole moment is a vector quantity and is therefore represented by a small arrow with a tail at the positive center and head pointing towards a negative center. In the case of a Water molecule, the Dipole moment is 1.85 D, whereas a molecule of hydrochloric acid is 1.03 D and can be represented as:
We have written many articles about dipole moment for Universe Today. Here’s an article about what water is made of, and here’s an article about molecules.
If you’d like more info on dipole moment, check out these articles from Hyperphysics and Science Daily.
We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Molecules in Space. Listen here, Episode 116: Molecules in Space.
NASA officials put on happy faces on February 14 to discuss their new budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2012, but it wasn’t exactly cheerful news. President Barack Obama proposed freezing NASA’s budget at the 2010 level, and called for a five-year freeze on new spending for the space agency. This would put NASA at $18.7 billion annually through fiscal 2016. Gone is the 1.6-percent increase NASA had sought for fiscal 2011, which ends in September, as well as the promised steady increases of an extra $6 billion over five years. But, truth be told, no one knows for sure what level NASA will be funded during this tight financial time, and the conservatives in Congress have talked about not just freezing the budgets of agencies like NASA, but reducing them.
“This budget requires us to live within our means so we can invest in our future,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “It maintains our commitment to human spaceflight and provides for strong programs to continue the outstanding science, aeronautics research and education needed to win the future.” Continue reading “Fiscal Squeeze Could Freeze NASA Budget for Five Years”
Saturn has fascinated amateurs and professionals alike for centuries. As quickly as the planet’s ring system was discovered the popular question became ‘why does Saturn have rings?’ usually followed by ‘what are Saturn’s rings made of?’. Well, here are the answers to both questions.
The simplest answer as to why Saturn has rings and what they are made of is that the planet has accumulated a great deal of dust, particles, and ice at varying distances from its surface. These items are most likely trapped by gravity. The rings appear because of the wavelengths of light reflected by these rings of debris.
Some scientists speculate that Saturn may be too big. Its gravitational pull is so strong that it has been able to snatch debris from space. Some of which is as large as an entire building. That pull is why it has at least 62 moons. Those moons contribute dust to the rings as well as absorb dust from the rings.
A common theory as to how all of the material initially accumulated in Saturn’s rings is a series of asteroid impacts. Not with the planet, but with the moons around it. After the impact the remnants of the asteroids and the debris from the moons could not escape the gravitational pull of the planet.
One other theory holds that the rings of Saturn formed as other moons broke apart in ancient times. Additionally, this theory states that some of the material could be from earlier, during the formation of the solar system, and Saturn could not accrete the material while it was forming and it has been in orbit ever since.
No matter which theory you believe, the rings of Saturn are spectacular. After researching Saturn’s rings a little more, be sure to investigate the ring systems around Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter. Each system is fainter than Saturn’s, but still interesting.
We have written many articles about Saturn for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the color of Saturn, and here are some pictures of Saturn.
The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) “Johannes Kepler” launch that was scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 15 was scrubbed due to a technical issue on the launch pad, and the slip could affect which day space shuttle Discovery launches for STS-133. Technicians at Launch Complex 3 in Kourou, French Guiana are looking at the problem, but preliminary details indicate some erroneous data on the status of the tank levels for fuel on the Ariane 5 rocket. They will go over the data carefully and if everything looks good they try again on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
This launch slip could change the launch date for STS-133, which is now scheduled for Feb. 24. If the ATV does launch on Wednesday (or on Thursday or Friday of this week), the launch of STS-133 will move to Feb. 25. But if the ATV launch slips beyond Friday means that the STS-133 launch stays on Feb. 24.
You can watch the launch attempt on Wednesday on NASA TV, and coverage will begin at 4:15 EST (21:15 GMT), with launch time at 4:50 pm EST (21:50 GMT). This is second launch of an ATV, and the 200th Ariane 5 launch.
NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:38 p.m. PST (11:38 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.
NASA’s Stardust-NExT raced past Comet Tempel 1 overnight Feb 14/15 at over 10 km/sec or 24,000 MPH and is now sending back the 72 astoundingly detailed and crisp science images of Comet Tempel 1 taken during closest approach at 11:37 p.m. EST on Feb. 14.
The high resolution images are amazingly sharp and clearly show a pockmarked and crater rich terrain of both new and previously unseen territory on the icy comets surface. The Stardust-NExT comet chaser zoomed within 181 km (112 miles) of the nucleus of the volatile comet.
See the photo gallery above and below, which is being updated as the images come back. I am enhancing and brightening certain images to show further details. The new images of Tempel 1 from Stardust-NExT surpass my expectations and look even sharper then those taken by NASA’s Deep Impact comet smasher in July 2005.
Read more about the Stardust-NExT Flyby and mission in my earlier stories here, here and here
NASA news briefing on Stardust-NExT at 3:30 p.m Feb 15 live on NASA TV
Update: Read my follow up story on the discovery of the Deep Impact crater here
Photo gallery of Comet Tempel 1 images from NASA’s Stardust-NExT comet mission on Feb 14, 2011
NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:38 p.m. PST (11:38 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.
Image brightened and enhanced to show additional detail. NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:38 p.m. PST (11:38 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.
Image brightened and enhanced to show additional detail. NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:39 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.
Image brightened and enhanced to show additional detail.NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:39 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:39 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.
Image brightened and enhanced to show additional detail.
Images brightened and enhanced to show additional detail by Ken Kremer
Schematic representation of a thick disc structure. The thick disc is formed of stars that are typically much older than those in the thin disc, making it an ideal probe of galactic evolution (Credit: Amanda Smith, IoA graphics officer)
A team of astronomers from the UK, the US and Europe have identified a thick stellar disc in the nearby Andromeda galaxy for the first time. The discovery and properties of the thick disc will constrain the dominant physical processes involved in the formation and evolution of large spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way.
By analyzing precise measurements of the velocities of individual bright stars within the Andromeda galaxy using the Keck telescope in Hawaii, the team have managed to separate out stars tracing out a thick disc from those comprising the thin disc, and assess how they differ in height, width and chemistry.
Optical image of The Andromeda galaxy (M31) (credit Robert Gendler)
Spiral structure dominates the morphology of large galaxies at the present time, with roughly 70% of all stars contained in a flat stellar disc. The disc structure contains the spiral arms traced by regions of active star formation, and surrounds a central bulge of old stars at the core of the galaxy. “From observations of our own Milky Way and other nearby spirals, we know that these galaxies typically possess two stellar discs, both a ‘thin’ and a ‘thick’ disc,” explains the leader of the study, Michelle Collins, a PhD student at Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. The thick disc consists of older stars whose orbits take them along a path that extends both above and below the more regular thin disc. “The classical thin stellar discs that we typically see in Hubble imaging result from the accretion of gas towards the end of a galaxy’s formation, whereas thick discs are produced in a much earlier phase of the galaxy’s life, making them ideal tracers of the processes involved in galactic evolution.”
Currently, the formation process of the thick disc is not well understood. Previously, the best hope for comprehending this structure was by studying the thick disc of our own Galaxy, but much of this is obscured from our view. The discovery of a similar thick disk in Andromeda presents a much cleaner view of spiral structure. Andromeda is our nearest large spiral neighbor — close enough to be visible to the unaided eye — and can be seen in its entirety from the Milky Way. Astronomers will be able to determine the properties of the disk across the full extent of the galaxy and look for signatures of the events connected to its formation. It requires a huge amount of energy to stir up a galaxy’s stars to form a thick disc component, and theoretical models proposed include accretion of smaller satellite galaxies, or more subtle and continuous heating of stars within the galaxy by spiral arms.
Ages and orientations of the stellar components of disc galaxies. The halo (or spheroid) contains the oldest populations, followed by the thick stellar disc. The thin disc typically contains the youngest generations of stars. (Credit: RAVE collaboration)
“Our initial study of this component already suggests that it is likely older than the thin disc, with a different chemical composition” commented UCLA Astronomer, Mike Rich. “Future more detailed observations should enable us to unravel the formation of the disc system in Andromeda, with the potential to apply this understanding to the formation of spiral galaxies throughout the Universe.”
“This result is one of the most exciting to emerge from the larger parent survey of the motions and chemistry of stars in the outskirts of Andromeda,” said fellow team member, Dr. Scott Chapman, also at the Institute of Astronomy. “Finding this thick disc has afforded us a unique and spectacular view of the formation of the Andromeda system, and will undoubtedly assist in our understanding of this complex process.”
This study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by Michelle Collins, Scott Chapman and Mike Irwin from the Institute of Astronomy, together with Rodrigo Ibata from L’Observatoire de Strasbourg, Mike Rich from University of California, Los Angeles, Annette Ferguson from the Institute for Astronomy in Edinburgh, Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney, and Nial Tanvir and Andreas Koch from the University of Leicester.
