by bandi » Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:32 am
I too have photoshop and that invert is a very interesting image. It does confirm that there is a large line of stars in the area you might expect an arm to be. Because the stars are all but invisible in the infrared shot, perhaps it can be assumed that the stars are so old that they are not generating enough heat to significantly indicate. It could be that there hasn't been any star formation there for longer than the lifespan of the stars so that in time the entire arm will fade from existence. It might be that the equivalent arm on the other side is an even worse state.
Why no star formation for eons? They've run out gas or at least the gas has run out on them. Gas is light and so could be pulled rather sharpishly towards the center by the black hole. If so, it has coagulated thereabouts and with plenty accrueing, star clusters are forming.
Meanwhile very few stars in the halo while millions of solar masses are packed into the core so go figure!
I've taken the liberty of indicating the invert against spira mirabilis. That is where it occurs with consistancy in the spiral galaxies. The line of outlying stars is a spira mirabilis arc but as usual it is as if the stars have formed further out and then been gradually moved inwards. They approach the core as a front with a direct inward shift along the entire length of this arc. The lines of stars hint at an ancient time but spira is still acitve. Can you see it? It's snaking through the nebula at the left of the image, infusing it with energy, heating that gas up and there will be a new line of stars right there.
Very exciting so thanks for that -I'd never considered how an entire arm could become extinct before.
Try
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~bandicootI too have photoshop and that invert is a very interesting image. It does confirm that there is a large line of stars in the area you might expect an arm to be. Because the stars are all but invisible in the infrared shot, perhaps it can be assumed that the stars are so old that they are not generating enough heat to significantly indicate. It could be that there hasn't been any star formation there for longer than the lifespan of the stars so that in time the entire arm will fade from existence. It might be that the equivalent arm on the other side is an even worse state.
Why no star formation for eons? They've run out gas or at least the gas has run out on them. Gas is light and so could be pulled rather sharpishly towards the center by the black hole. If so, it has coagulated thereabouts and with plenty accrueing, star clusters are forming.
Meanwhile very few stars in the halo while millions of solar masses are packed into the core so go figure!
I've taken the liberty of indicating the invert against spira mirabilis. That is where it occurs with consistancy in the spiral galaxies. The line of outlying stars is a spira mirabilis arc but as usual it is as if the stars have formed further out and then been gradually moved inwards. They approach the core as a front with a direct inward shift along the entire length of this arc. The lines of stars hint at an ancient time but spira is still acitve. Can you see it? It's snaking through the nebula at the left of the image, infusing it with energy, heating that gas up and there will be a new line of stars right there.
Very exciting so thanks for that -I'd never considered how an entire arm could become extinct before.
Try
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~bandicoot