APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan 26)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5593
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan 26)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:06 am

Image NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy

Explanation: A mere 12.5 million light-years from Earth, irregular dwarf galaxy NGC 4449 lies within the confines of Canes Venatici, the constellation of the Hunting Dogs. About the size of our Milky Way's satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, NGC 4449 is undergoing an intense episode of star formation, evidenced by its wealth of young blue star clusters, pinkish star forming regions, and obscuring dust clouds in this deep color portrait. It also holds the distinction of being the first dwarf galaxy with an identified tidal star stream, faintly seen at the lower right. Placing your cursor over the image reveals an inset of the stream resolved into red giant stars. The star stream represents the remains of a still smaller infalling satellite galaxy, disrupted by gravitational forces and destined to merge with NGC 4449. With relatively few stars, small galaxies are thought to possess extensive dark matter halos. But since dark matter interacts gravitationally, these observations offer a chance to examine the significant role of dark matter in galactic merger events. The interaction is likely responsible for NGC 4449's burst of star formation and offers a tantalizing insight into how even small galaxies are assembled over time.

<< Previous APODDiscuss Any APOD Next APOD >>
[/b]

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Beyond » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:22 am

Dwarfs gobbleing Dwarfs. A diminutive episode of galactic canabalism. :tiny: :tiny:
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21592
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by bystander » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:56 am

Little Galaxies Are Big on Dark Matter
Universe Today | Tammy Plotner | 2011 Dec 29

Dwarf Galaxies and Dark Matter
Cosmotography | R. Jay GaBany

Dwarfs Gobbling Dwarfs: A Stellar Tidal Stream Around NGC 4449 and
Hierarchical Galaxy Formation on Small Scales
- David Martinez-Delgado et al
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13845
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Ann » Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:47 am

This is a fantastic image!!! :D :D :D :D

Wish I had more time to comment on it. :cry:

R Jay Gabany is a master astrophtographer and extremely good at making RGB portrait of galaxies. He is also a master at teasing out faint details in the outer parts of galaxies and in their surroundings.

Today's portrait is a stunning portrait of starbursting dwarf galaxy NGC 4449. The brilliance of its blue clusters and pink emission nebulae is fantastic.

It is obvious from this picture that NGC 4449 is both similar to, and different from, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is similar to the LMC because both these galaxies are relatively small, yet extremely full of young bright stars and nebulae. Also, both galaxies are a bit "lopsided": the LMC forms most of its new stars in and around the Tarantula Nebula on one side of the galaxy, and today's APOD makes it clear that more stars are forming on the lower left side of NGC 4449 than on its upper right side.

A remarkable difference between the LMC and NGC 4449 is that the LMC has a central bar with little star formation, but NGC 4449 is forming incredible numbers of stars in its central area.

GRI photography by SDSS has also shown that NGC 4449 has a relatively extensive halo of infrared-bright old stars. I don't know if the LMC has anything similar.

Let's return to today's APOD. To me it is almost shocking to see the color difference, as well as the overall difference, between NGC 4449 and the small dwarf that is about to merge with it. While NGC 4449 is flamboyantly blue and pink, the small dwarf is a dull reddish beige color. NGC 4449 is full of O and B-type stars, brilliantly blue in color, and pink emission nebulae. But the small dwarf galaxy has no really young bright stars at all. All its brightest stars are red giants, which may be billions of years old. No nebulae and no dust is visible in the dwarf galaxy. I have to say that I am glad that R Jay Gabany included a blue galaxy in his inset, otherwise I might almost have doubted that he had used the same filters and the same color balance when he photographed NGC 4449 and when he photographed the small dwarf galaxy.

So all in all, this is a fantastic image, wonderfully esthetically pleasing and scientifically completely fascinating! :D

Ann
Color Commentator

Byork

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Byork » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:44 am

..what field and valley
what glade and stream
grace thy restless arms..

these are the words i repeat to myself when viewing these images of galaxies attended by red wine and certified cheddar cheese. ngc 4449 doesn't appear to have any prominent spiral arms now, but it will in a few years as the faint star cluster merges with the dwarf galaxy. a faint spiral motion is discernable with the galaxy spinning in the clockwise direction. the two well developed spiral galaxies in the distant lower left also deserve attention. do they have an ngc number ? if not, here are my ngc entries for two spiral blue galaxies in the image: ngc 8001 and ngc 8002.

..what field and valley

..

smitty
Science Officer
Posts: 145
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:57 am

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by smitty » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:20 pm

I'm not getting the promised inset when I run my cursor over the image; anybody else experiencing this problem? Thanks.

smitty
Science Officer
Posts: 145
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:57 am

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by smitty » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:24 pm

Never mind . . . got it now (the inset). It was just late arriving. Sorry!

ohanon

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by ohanon » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:42 pm

Anyone know the designations of the two galaxies below the star stream? I'd like to see them enlarged, they're beautiful.

User avatar
Case
Commander
Posts: 618
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:08 pm
Location: (52°N, 06°E)

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Case » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:00 pm

ohanon wrote:Anyone know the designations of the two galaxies below the star stream?
Markarian 1475/PGC 41113 (0.49' × 0.372'), PGC 2233323 (0.447' × 0.219')
ohanon wrote:I'd like to see them enlarged, they're beautiful.
Good luck with that. The APOD might be it.

Joe_L

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Joe_L » Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:58 pm

Great image today! Is there any way I can download it *without* the magnified inset? Thanks!

User avatar
geckzilla
Ocular Digitator
Posts: 9180
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by geckzilla » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:23 pm

Joe_L wrote:Great image today! Is there any way I can download it *without* the magnified inset? Thanks!
http://www.cosmotography.com/images/gab ... gc4449.jpg
Image copyright ©2009- 2012 R. Jay GaBany
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

jgabany
Ensign
Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:37 am
Location: San Jose, California
Contact:

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by jgabany » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:46 pm

geckzilla wrote:
Joe_L wrote:Great image today! Is there any way I can download it *without* the magnified inset? Thanks!
http://www.cosmotography.com/images/gab ... gc4449.jpg
Hello Joe_L:

Thanks for asking! Here is a link that will enable you to download a large copy of the image without the insert.

http://www.cosmotography.com/images/lrg ... gc4449.jpg

Jay

saturn2

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by saturn2 » Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:13 pm

N G C 4449 is a irregular galaxy nearly to Earth.
A interesting topic: the dark matter.
This galaxy has a halo of dark matter.
The dark matter interacts gravitacionally and it´s a real force in the Universe.

Joe_L

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by Joe_L » Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:45 pm

jgabany wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Joe_L wrote:Great image today! Is there any way I can download it *without* the magnified inset? Thanks!
http://www.cosmotography.com/images/gab ... gc4449.jpg
Hello Joe_L:

Thanks for asking! Here is a link that will enable you to download a large copy of the image without the insert.

http://www.cosmotography.com/images/lrg ... gc4449.jpg

Jay

That's great, thank'ye kindly!

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21592
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: APOD: NGC 4449: Star Stream for a Dwarf Galaxy (2012 Jan

Post by bystander » Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:15 am

Watching a tiny galaxy grow
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy | 2012 Feb 09

Tiny galaxy with a huge appetite
Max Planck Gesellschaft | 2012 Feb 08

Subaru Telescope Captures Images of the "Stealth Merger" of Dwarf Galaxies
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | Subaru Telescope | 2012 Feb 08

Astronomy team that includes UCLA finance professor discovers nearby dwarf galaxy
University of California, Los Angeles | Stuart Wolpert | 2012 Feb 08

New images capture 'stealth merger' of dwarf galaxies
University of California, Santa Cruz | Tim Stephens | 2012 Feb 08

Perpetrator of Galactic Hit-and-Run Found
Discovery News | Irene Klotz | 2012 Feb 08

A tidally distorted dwarf galaxy near NGC 4449 - R. M. Rich et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=26873#p167980
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

Post Reply