Seeing the Invisible, 04.05.12

If you have ever paid a visit to the Wetherbee Planetarium here at Thronateeska Heritage Center, chances are you have heard a good deal about our film, “Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity.” In the film, all manner of evidence is put forward about the existence of a black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The film describes research done at the Keck Telescope in Hawai’i, where several stars have been recorded orbiting in a very strange manner around...something...at the center of the Milky Way.

SPACE.com, today (04.05.12), published more information detailing re­cent studies on this supposed supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Telescopes have yet to reveal it. With the technology we have now, we simply cannot see anything there. Plans are in the works for bigger and better detection methods, but for now, the area known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced Sagittarius A-Star) seems to be a great big empty space of nothingness that somehow manages to make some stars orbit around it at mind-blowing speeds of over 3,000 miles a second.

CREDIT: Alain R. | Wikimedia Commons 

Astronomers know that something has to be there. Analysis shows that something packing more than 4 million times the mass of our own sun is there, yet it still cannot be seen. It does emit some radio waves, but aside from that, there is not much else to go on. Much research remains to be done to know for sure about this monster at the center of the Milky Way. One thing is certain: whatever it is, it is proving to be one great big mathematical migraine.

Read more from SPACE.com.

Finding the dark with light, 10.21.11

NASA scientists are using the Hubble Space Telescope to detect dark matter using light. This may sound odd, but the researchers found out it is possible.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScl), and the CLASH Team.

The principle that allows it to work is something called gravitational lensing, an effect predicted by Einstein in the early part of the 20^th century. The idea is that when a large object with considerable mass passes in front of a light source, it causes the light to focus temporarily as it is literally pulled a little bit towards the object, thus making the light appear a little brighter for a time.

On the galactic scale, we do not see it quite so much as a flare, but rather we see bends or curves in the light. In this image here, you can clearly see some areas of light that are distorted, seeming to bend around nothing. That “nothing,” the researchers have determined, is dark matter, the as of yet enigmatic stuff that is proving very difficult to study. The vast majority of things that researchers have learned about dark matter can only be gleaned from its seeming effect on everything else. It is something they cannot see and cannot reach yet due to the current limitations of our space travel programs. Hopefully with enough studies they can determine what it is. As dark matter makes up the bulk of the universe’s mass, scientists are very eager to figure it out.

For more information please call 229-432-6955. Credit: NASA.gov. 

Life-friendly zones in the galaxy? 09.30.11

With all the changes happening in the sciences lately, it is no small wonder that astronomers are beginning to re-think the “big picture” in their theories. For centuries, humans have wondered about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, and since the advancement of space technology, the hunt has become ever more insistent. Yet, with each little hint of the possibility of life, one or more factors always seem to be missing. Some astronomers are now beginning to reformulate their search plans and not look just for other solar systems elsewhere, but try to determine if there are specific areas throughout our galaxy that are more life-friendly.

In every solar system, depending on the class of the central star(s), there is a certain distance away from the center that is the most temperate area for supporting life as we know it. This zone is usually referred to by astronomers as the life zone, “habitable zone,” or even the “Goldilocks zone,” because it is not too hot or too cold. For instance, in our solar system, Mercury and Venus are much closer to our own sun, and as such experience much higher average temperatures year-round. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all much, much further away from the sun than Earth, and are all much colder. Astronomers are still very hopeful about the possibility of life on Mars.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/CXC/STScI.

So, if there is a specific life zone in every solar system, does the same rule apply for galaxies? Some astronomers are beginning to believe so, arguing that the centers of galaxies tend to be much more metal-heavy, which is much more conducive to planetary formation, so the odds are in favor of a planet forming with life on it. The flipside of the argument, however, is that the centers of galaxies also tend to be home to more supernovae. While all the constant light would be annoying, any life on planets in the galactic center would have to worry about much more serious problems like ozone depletion and literally having the planet fried by all manner of ray emissions from the multitude of stars. For now, the researchers will continue to scan the center of our own galaxy (pictured here) for more evidence and see how their theories unfold.

Credit: SPACE.com.

De blob, it glows! 08.19.11

Lyman-alpha blob 1 (LAB-1) is a blob. Not only that, but it is a giant, intergalactic green blob—a giant, intergalactic, green blob that can only be studied with extremely large telescopes, like the (aptly named) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the mountains of Chile. This is what LAB-1 looks like through the VLT:

Very green, isn’t it? Believe it or not, but it is actually glowing green. That is no filter, no infrared exposure, no x-ray…nothing special done to the photograph. The thing is a glowing, green blob. That is only part of what makes it so fascinating, though.

According to the astronomers who have been studying it with the VLT, the LAB-1 is polarized in a very odd way. That polarization indicates something about what is inside of the blob: “We have shown for the first time that the glow of this enigmatic object is scattered light from brilliant galaxies hidden within, rather than the gas throughout the cloud itself shining,” said lead author Matthew Hayes at the University of Toulouse.

So, LAB-1 is full of galaxies. In case you don’t realize just how huge this blob is, astronomers calculate it is at least 300,000 light years across. That is more than 11 times the distance of our solar system from the center of just our own Milky Way galaxy. This blob is a monster… a creepy, glowing, green monster.

Astronomers are also very interested in LAB-1 because it may literally shed some light on how galaxies are formed. “For a long time now, astronomers have watched stars being born in places like the Great Orion Nebula. Now, it looks like we’ll be able to see where galaxies are born, an exciting prospect,” says Jim Friese of Thronateeska Heritage Center.

 Credit and image credit: NASA.

A quasar's lesson in death, 03.02.11

There is a supermassive black hole at the center of Markarian 231, about 600 million light years away, near the constellation Ursa Major, which is giving scientists some clues into the life cycles of black holes. Irony objectified, it turns out that their massive appetites actually starve them out in the end.

Image credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Lynette Cook.

Mrk 231 is under observation by the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawai’I, and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Mauna Kea, Hawai’i. The observatory has estimated that the total flow of matter from Mrk 231 is about 400 times the mass of the Sun, and that it puts out this much every year. Such an enormous appetite, however, cannot go on forever, scientists say.


Black holes are a normal find in the center of galaxies; we even have one of our own in the center of the Milky Way. Mrk 231has allowed scientists to glean data that demonstrates how black holes can be choked out. They are calling their findings a “negative feedback loop,” in which the black hole sucks in matter and energy around it, compresses it into an unimaginably fine stream (probably because of magnetic fields), and then spews it back out. The problem, they say, is that it is spitting its food out too far and too fast. “This is really a last gasp of this galaxy;” says Sylvain Veilleux of the University of Maryland, “The black hole is belching its next meal into oblivion!”


In the final, violent stages of merging with another galaxy, it spits out the material it needs faster and farther away than it can be retrieved. Soon, it will be stripped down to its energetic central quasar.


Quasar is actually a shortened term for “quasi-stellar radio source.” This is a bit of a misnomer, however, as some quasars emit very little of a radio signal, if any, at all. They also are some of the brightest and presumably oldest objects in the universe, and are still being extensively studied.


Credit: NASA.

10 Year old begins supernova hunting career, 01.10.11

Kathryn Aurora Gray of Fredricton, New Brunswick thought she was just in for another night of star gazing with her family and astronomy-enthusiast friend. Little did she know she was about to become the youngest recorded discoverer of a supernova, an exploding star.


The supernova, in galaxy UGC 3378, was located in the constellation Camelopardalis, located not too far away from the North Star. The galaxy UGC 3378 is approximately 240 million light years away. Gray discovered the supernova on January 2 using a telescope belonging to a friend of the family, David Lane. The group had taken photographs through the telescope on New Years Eve, and upon closer inspection of the photographs on January 2, Gray discovered the supernova. Her father, Paul, himself a discoverer of no less than six supernovas, passed the information on to be verified by the proper authorities. The International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams has finalized Gray’s discovery.

Image credit: David Lane.

Supernovas, the rather violent death of stars as they explode, are considered rare events and can be difficult to spot, as they present themselves merely as bright points of light that were not previously there. They can last for several days, possibly even weeks, and then their light fades from view, leaving their own unique pattern in the night sky that is only visible with high-powered telescopes. Supernovas, however, can be seen with relatively light-powered telescopes, but take an extremely good sense of familiarity with the night sky (or at least that particular patch of night sky) to spot.


Despite her keen observation, Gray has not been allowed to officially name the supernova. The IAU has deemed it simply as Supernova 2010lt.


Credit: SPACE.com

Alien planet provides clues to Earth's future? 11.26.10

Astronomers have recently discovered a planet that they strongly feel is from a galaxy not our own. Orbiting the star HIP 13044, the planet may provide clues as to what our own sun may have in store for Earth, 5 billion years from now, that is.

An artist's impression of HIP 13044. Image credit: SPACE.com.

This situation is unique because the planet is orbiting around a star that has an unexpected chemistry. This, along with the star’s proximity to other similar objects has led astronomers to believe that it is from the Helmi Stream, a nearby dwarf galaxy that our own Milky Way supposedly attracted and swallowed up. The planet is about “25 percent more massive than Jupiter” and is located approximately 2,000 light years away in the constellation Fornax.

Using a European Southern Observatory in Chile, the astronomers have determined that the chemistry of the star and its alien planet is drastically different from the normal patterns of solar system development. Simply put, because so large of a planet is orbiting around such a chemically different star, astronomers are having to rethink their theories regarding planetary formation around stars. Because the star is at such an advanced age and astronomers can track its changes, they are also hoping to glean data that may provide insight into the relationship between stars and their orbiting planets, which may in turn reveal what our sun has in store for our solar system as it (the sun) grows with age.


“This is very exciting,” said study co-author Rainer Klement of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany. For the first time, astronomers can finally study stars and planets from another galaxy because of the absorption of the Helmi Stream.


Credit: SPACE.com.