Magnetic fields in Messier 82, or the Cigar galaxy, are shown as lines over visible light and … [+] multi-red image of the galaxy from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Stellar winds emanating from fresh hot stars create a real galactic wind that explodes plugs of hot gas (red) and a huge halo of smoky dust (yellow / orange) perpendicular to the narrow galaxy (white).
NASA, SOFIA, L. Proudfit; NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team; NASA, JPL-Caltech, C. Engelbracht
In theory, cold, neutral gas is the key to stars and galaxies.
A sight of gas falling into a young galaxy shows what it would look like, if the … [+] gas (other than the stars) was visible to the naked eye. Note that this gas is an essential ingredient for star formation; when a gas falls, new stars are born, but without this gas, new stars cannot form.
R. Crain (LJMU) and J. Geach (U. Herts)
When clouds of gas fall, new stars can form.
A cloud of gas falls apart, forming new stars, while radiation works to evaporate it. An evaporative … [+] ultraviolet radiation comes from two sources: the proto stars form inside, and the radiation of young stars from outside. When the cloud, known as the frEGG (free floating gaseous globule), empties, a mixture of true and “failed” stars is left behind.
ESA / Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai
The gas is completely gone, however, star formation has stopped.
A map of neutral hydrogen (in red) is covered on this galaxy in a Coma Group showing the amount of gas … [+] quickly removed from this galaxy as it travels through the body. Galleries found in environments like this one turn ‘red and dead’ much faster than galleries in less dense areas. Note the elliptical redder galleries to the left; they have been without gas for billions of years already.
NASA, ESA, and W. Cramer and J. Kenney (Yale University)
Surprisingly, the biggest stars can ruin a star’s shape potential in the future.
Mixed views from Chandra (purple), large area (yellow) along with Hubble (red, … [+] green, and blue) have given astronomers a detailed new insight into how the galaxy and the formation of black holes may have occurred early in the Universe. Galaxy bulges and supermassive black holes grow in tandem with today’s Universe, but this galaxy seems like an outlier.
X-ray (NASA / CXC / Virginia / A.Reines et al); Radio (NRAO / AUI / NSF); Optical (NASA / STScI)
Starburst galaxies are very rare, occurring when the entire galaxy becomes a star-forming region.
The Cigar Galaxy, M82, and its supergalactic winds (in red) showcasing the fast new star … [+] creation takes place within it. This is the closest giant galaxy that is going through the formation of fast stars like this to us, and its winds are so powerful that almost all of the heavy elements that come from the death of the stars would be that are permanently removed without a dark case to keep it connected by grafting.
NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI / AURA); Thanks: M. Mountain (STScI), P. Puxley (NSF), J. Gallagher (U. Wisconsin)
The closest is the Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82), just 12 million light-years away.
Located just outside the Big Dipper, the M81 and M82 items are often used as an analogue for … [+] Andromeda and the Milky Way. While Andromeda still has more stars, it’s possible that the Milky Way is almost as big and light. The M81 and M82, the Cigar Galaxy, interact with each other, with new stars and huge galactic winds rising in M82.
Markus Schopfer / cc-by-2.5
The gravitational effect of its larger neighbor gives this star a boost.
NASA’s SOFIA telescope, which flies aboard a modified Boeing 747, is perfectly suited to make … [+] high-quality infrared ideas while they still have affordable renewable instruments on board.
Echo Romeo / American Central / Corporate Physics Association
In 2019, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) studied the Cigar Galaxy gas with an unprecedented sensitivity.
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, has a huge advantage over space … [+] telescopes: easy to service and upgrade. New instruments, such as the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC +) shown here or the German instrument for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT), allow for ideas that were not even on seen when SOFIA was first designed.
NASA
SOFIA monitors at 41,000+ feet, avoiding 99% of atmospheric water valves: the largest nemesis of infrared astronomy.
Transmittance or opacity of the electromagnetic spectrum through the atmosphere. Note all … [+] inclusion features in gamma rays, X-rays, and the infrared, which is why most of our observatories in all of these waves are located in space. The infrared, in particular, suffers from a water valve in the atmosphere, but very high views are possible there, not just location-based.
NASA
The researchers found that its massive galactic wind is connected to internal magnetic field lines.
This composite image shows the magnetic field detected by SOFIA (currents), where there is an outflow of … [+] gas, shown in red, appears to mark on the same side as the lines of the magnetic field. At just 12 million light-years away, this galaxy, Messier 82, is our closest laboratory for studying starburst galaxies.
NASA / SOFIA / E. Lopez-Rodriguez; NASA / Spitzer / J. Moustakas et al.
Large amounts of gas and dust – up to 50,000,000 Suns – are being transported into the interplanetary space, dragging the field with it.
This infrared image from NASA’s Space Spitzer Telescope shows the Galaxy Cigar in two different ways … [+] wavelengths, where the shortest wavelength light (blue) follows the hot stars of the galaxy, while the longer wavelength light (red) follows the dust particles of the galaxy, which are blowing out to an interstellar space.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
This program of foam star formation could completely eliminate the Galaxy Cigar.
After unification, large spirals lead to the formation of a single large elliptical galaxy. Above … [+] time, the inner stars redder as the blue ones die fastest. The M81 and M82 galleries will eventually merge, but M82 may run out of gas even before that due to the continued starburst triggered by M82.
NASA, ESA, and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA)
Modern science continues, even through this pandemic, with international cooperation.
In February and March of 2021, NASA’s SOFIA will conduct science flights over Germany for the first time … [+] time. The German Aerospace Center, DLR, has been partnering with NASA on SOFIA for more than 25 years, and science teams in Bonn and Cologne are keen to take advantage of this new opportunity.
Alexander Golz
SOFIA is being closely monitored throughout Germany, exploring ionized carbon: a key finding of star formation.
The unusually hot young star WR 22 is slammed against a piece of Carina nebula here, … [+] and display signs of heavily ionized elements such as carbon and nitrogen. Observing ionized carbon can help astronomers identify the warmest dust regions, which are heated by nearby large newborn stars.
ESO
Combined observations about star birth, winds, and transport will reveal key relationship issues that underlie galaxy evolution.
A terrifying star-forming region in the constellation UGCA 281, as seen by Hubble in the visible and … [+] the ultraviolet, as part of the LEGUS study. The star-like blue light from hot, young stars appears off the background, a neutral gas, while the brightest patches reflect the maximum emission of UV light. The red particles, however, are evidence of ionized hydrogen gas, which emits normal red glue as electrons join the free proteins. The gas is being expelled from this area due to strong winds from the hottest young stars.
NASA, ESA and the LEGUS team
Mostly Mute Monday tells a celestial story in images, images, and no more than 200 words. Talk less; laugh more.
