Starship Asterisk*

Joe Stieber wrote:
Sky & Telescope also has a current online story about the pillars in NGC 4921.

bystander wrote:

Ann wrote:

Yale News wrote:
In the 1990s, a famous Hubble photo dubbed “Pillars of Creation” showed columns of dust and gas in the Eagle Nebula that were in the process of forging new stars. The dust filaments Kenney identified are similar in some ways to the “Pillars of Creation,” except they are 1,000 times larger.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35010

hoohaw wrote:By the way, readers; immediately after my post, above, I looked at the Earth Science Picture of the Day, and it is the best one I have EVER seen: http://epod.usra.edu/blog/

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1570.html wrote:

[b]ESO 137-001 travels towards the center of [color=#FF0000]The Norma Cluster[/color] [color=#0000FF]Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UVa/M. Sun et al; H-alpha/Optical: SOAR/MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil/M.Sun et al.[/color][/b]

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Galaxy Cluster Has Two 'Tails' to Tell

<<Two spectacular tails of X-ray emission have been seen trailing behind a galaxy using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 3627 shows X-rays from Chandra in blue, optical emission in yellow and emission from hydrogen light -- known to astronomers as 'H-alpha' -- in red. The optical and H-alpha data were obtained with the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile.

At the front of the tail is the galaxy ESO 137-001. The brighter of the two tails has been seen before and extends for about 260,000 light years. The detection of the second, fainter tail, however, was a surprise to the scientists.

The X-ray tails were created when cool gas from ESO 137-001 (with a temperature of about ten degrees above absolute zero) was stripped by hot gas (about 100 million degrees) as it travels towards the center of [The Norma Cluster]. What astronomers observe with Chandra is essentially the evaporation of the cold gas, which glows at a temperature of about 10 million degrees. Evidence of gas with temperatures between 100 and 1,000 degrees Kelvin in the tail was also found with the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Galaxy clusters are collections of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies held together by gravity that are enveloped in hot gas. The two-pronged tail in this system may have formed because gas has been stripped from the two major spiral arms in ESO 137-001. The stripping of gas is thought to have a significant effect on galaxy evolution, removing cold gas from the galaxy, shutting down the formation of new stars in the galaxy, and changing the appearance of inner spiral arms and bulges because of the effects of star formation.>>

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_%28opera%29 wrote:

[b][color=#FF0000][size=150]Norma prepares to leap into the flames[/size][/color][/b]

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<<Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831.

In the concerted finale, Norma pleads with Oroveso to spare her children (Deh! non volerli vittime / "Please don't make them suffer").

As she prepares to leap into the flames, the re-enamoured Pollione joins her, declaring: "your pyre is mine as well. There, a holier and everlasting love will begin".>>

Ann wrote:... I think this is a repeat image from 2014. ...

Ann wrote:

Yale News wrote:
In the 1990s, a famous Hubble photo dubbed “Pillars of Creation” showed columns of dust and gas in the Eagle Nebula that were in the process of forging new stars. The dust filaments Kenney identified are similar in some ways to the “Pillars of Creation,” except they are 1,000 times larger.

Ann wrote:

ta152h0 wrote:Any thoughts on what gave this thing the mighty boot ? the Big Bang ?

The Big Bang has nothing to do with it. Rather, NGC 4921 is on the outskirts of the Coma Cluster and it is "falling in" towards it due to gravitational effects. Or it might possibly just be in orbit around the center of the Coma Cluster. Whatever the exact reason, the Coma Cluster is filled with hot gas, and NGC 4921 is moving through this gas and feels the pressure of it like a steady headwind. Certainly ESO 137-001 is also either falling in towards a galaxy cluster or is in orbit around a galaxy cluster. I think it is more likely that it is falling in towards a great center of gravity.

ta152h0 wrote:Any thoughts on what gave this thing the mighty boot ? the Big Bang ?

Yale News wrote:
In the 1990s, a famous Hubble photo dubbed “Pillars of Creation” showed columns of dust and gas in the Eagle Nebula that were in the process of forging new stars. The dust filaments Kenney identified are similar in some ways to the “Pillars of Creation,” except they are 1,000 times larger.