APOD: Hubble Remix: Active Galaxy NGC 1275 (2010 Jun 04)

[Chris Peterson]

Regarding the filamentary tentacles of "hot gas" - which NASA explains is a common term for ionized gas, which is matter in the plasma state, whether weakly or wholly ionized. We are looking at a fairly energetic plasma-filled cosmic space.

You need to be careful with what "filled" means. In fact, these regions that show up in images like that of today have densities that we'd call a "hard vacuum" in the lab. This is why electric currents in most of the Universe are weak to non-existent.

Filamentary structures are not and can not be formed under gravity-only forces; they are a natural and particularly common outgrowth of electromagnetic forces operating in cosmic plasmas.

Not so. Filamentary structures are readily created by tidal forces, a type of gravitational force. This is the only type of force responsible for filaments containing high mass, such as trails of stars in colliding galaxies. Magnetic forces are responsible for structure in tenuous filaments of gas. In general, electrical forces are not present.

Gravity is intrinsically a weaker force than the electromagnetic force

So it is. But it is the only fundamental force in the Universe that operates over vast distances. Electrical currents are largely limited to stars and their immediate surroundings. Magnetic fields may extend through galaxies, but they are extremely weak compared with gravity: they don't influence the behavior of anything larger than free atoms.

[geckzilla]

Anyone know what the faint, yellow, symmetrical structure on the right, mid upper edge is?

All the fuzzy yellow objects around the edges are background galaxies. The one you are referring to doesn't seem to be in the catalogs called up by VizieR, so I don't know its designation.

I thought it was a galaxy. I can't recall ever seeing one so perfectly in the shape of a figure 8, though. I did a quick search for other similar shaped galaxies and could find none. Do you know of any others?

Edit: Maybe hourglass would be a better description... Or, I don't know. It reminds me of magnetic poles.

[bystander]

@jjohnson, tesla, et al

While Hannes Alfvén was well regarded in the fields of electrical engineering and plasma physics, that does not necessarily equate to expertise in physical cosmology. Plasma cosmology is largely unsubstantiated and widely discredited. I would be very surprised to find it supported by the majority of the membership of the IEEE and/or the NPSS. As a non-standard cosmology, it is beyond the scope of this forum and is not a topic open for discussion (Rule 15).

[owlice]

The world's largest professional organization is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Their section on Nuclear and Plasma Physics states that 99% or more of the observable universe is in a plasma state.

emphasis mine

What does "their section" refer to? "Their section" of what?

My brother is a electronics engineer; I think he'd be pretty surprised to be thought an expert on cosmology!

[tesla]

What keeps the filaments together? well that should be obvious. The filaments are held together by magnetic fields, (how do you measure magnetic fields 230 million light years away?), which implies electrical current. No other reason. (These are not fridge magnets)
Tesla

Tesla, again: got citations?

Oh, no, no, you don't.

Hi Owlice,
Please look at http://www.plasmauniverse.info/papers-cosmology.html
Your citations will only support your viewpoint as these published papers above will support a different one. It comes down to observed facts. What sort of equipment is used to measure magnetic fields 230 million light years away?
If you are really a scientist you will consider different viewpoints and not dismiss them out of hand
Tesla

[bystander]

@tesla http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 08#p123308

[owlice]

If you are really a scientist you will consider different viewpoints and not dismiss them out of hand

Not all viewpoints are worthy of consideration.

[Chris Peterson]

Please look at http://www.plasmauniverse.info/papers-cosmology.html

Junk science doesn't stop being junk science because somebody puts up a website.

Almost all of these ideas have long since been discredited (meaning, from a scientific standpoint they have been demonstrated to be wrong).

If you are really a scientist you will consider different viewpoints and not dismiss them out of hand

The area has been considered. It is known that these ideas do not describe how the Universe works. At this point, a scientist considering the subject is simply wasting his time. These viewpoints are quite properly not investigated, any more than scientists are investigating if the Earth is the center of the Solar System or if the Sun produces energy by gravitational attraction.

Once an idea is disproven, scientists are no longer obligated to spend any time considering that idea. And good scientists won't.

[tesla]

You know for a long time people thought the Earth was flat......

Tesla

[bystander]

You know for a long time people thought the Earth was flat......

Yeah, and the sun revolves around the earth and it's turtles all the way down. Your point is ???

Plasma cosmology is not discussed here. Go somewhere else if you wish to discuss it.

Case closed.

[Chris Peterson]

You know for a long time people thought the Earth was flat......

Actually, this belief is a myth. Educated people have known for thousands of years that the Earth was not flat.

[Beyond]

Especially people who sailed the sea and saw the land they came from fastly disappearing over the Horizon.
And of course it worked the other way from those on the land watching the ships disappear over the Horizon.

Really makes one wonder just how so many "stupid" things got handed down and piled upon us that we have to dig through.

I think thats how Scientists got started. They were the first to go through things to try and get a better truth and over time just tried to stay with the facts they found and discounted everything else except the facts.
Non-Scientist types tend to include almost everything but the facts (most of the time) and so usually see things much differently then the Scientists.

One of these days both groups of people may just realize that they should get together and see just what fits where and then discard the leftovers and study whats left.
The future always shines brightly with hope -- until it becomes the Present. Once you open the present, the excitment disapates.

[dougettinger]

Hello Beyond,
Your moniker is "to find the truth, you must go beyond." I believe there are plenty of existing truths strewn about all of man's mental blocks, beliefs, myths, and legends. What scientists must do is "find more truths by going beyond."

Let me test if you can go beyond. What is gravity ? Where is the gravitron ? What was Einstein trying to do with his Unified Force Theory ? Tell me what YOU think gravity really is ?

Doug Ettinger
Pittsburgh, PA

[bystander]

APOD: 2008 Aug 22 - Active Galaxy NGC 1275
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... =9&t=14422

Sparkle | NASA IOTD | 30 Dec 2010

Click to view full size image

This Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 1275 reveals the fine, thread-like filamentary structures in the gas surrounding the galaxy. The red filaments are composed of cool gas being suspended by a magnetic field, and are surrounded by the 100-million-degree Fahrenheit hot gas in the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster.

The filaments are dramatic markers of the feedback process through which energy is transferred from the central massive black hole to the surrounding gas. The filaments originate when cool gas is transported from the center of the galaxy by radio bubbles that rise in the hot interstellar gas.

At a distance of 230 million light-years, NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies.

The galaxy was photographed in July and August 2006 with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration;
Acknowledgment: A. Fabian (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK)

[neufer]

Hubble Remix: Active Galaxy NGC 1275

Explanation: This color composite image highlights the resulting galactic debris and filaments of glowing gas, some up to 20,000 light-years long. The filaments persist in NGC 1275, even though the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them. What keeps the filaments together? Observations indicate that the structures, pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are held together by magnetic fields.

What keeps the filaments together? Observations indicate that the structures,
pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are held together by albumen .

[jman]

Really makes one wonder just how so many "stupid" things got handed down and piled upon us that we have to dig through.

I think the answer: is another topic we're not allowed to discuss here.

[Beyond]

YUP!!

[Beyond]

Hubble Remix: Active Galaxy NGC 1275

Explanation: This color composite image highlights the resulting galactic debris and filaments of glowing gas, some up to 20,000 light-years long. The filaments persist in NGC 1275, even though the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them. What keeps the filaments together? Observations indicate that the structures, pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are held together by magnetic fields.

What keeps the filaments together? Observations indicate that the structures,
pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are held together by albumen .

Now C'mon, art. Are you just trying to "egg" us on How about a little fruit in all that albumen? Do you like your raspberries red or black?