Starship Asterisk*

muehlner wrote:This photo seems to be presented as a mirror image, according to http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 1/image/a/.
If that is the case then "upper left" would really mean upper right in the shown image and make more sense as the location of the other colliding galaxy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpole wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Tadpole stage of Haswell's frog[/color][/b]

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<<A tadpole is the larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad. They are usually wholly aquatic, though some species have tadpoles that are terrestrial. The name "tadpole" is from Middle English taddepol, made up of the elements tadde, "toad", and pol, "head" (modern English "poll"). Similarly, "polliwog" is from Middle English polwygle, made up of the same pol, "head" and wiglen, "to wiggle". .

During the tadpole stage of the amphibian life cycle, most respire by means of autonomous external or internal gills. They do not usually have arms or legs until the transition to adulthood, and typically have dorsal or fin-like appendages and a tail with which they swim by lateral undulation, similar to most fish. As a tadpole matures, it most commonly metamorphosizes by gradually growing limbs (usually the legs first, followed by the arms) and then (most commonly in the case of frogs) outwardly absorbing its tail by apoptosis. Lungs develop around the time of leg development, and tadpoles late in development will often be found near the surface of the water, where they breathe air. During the final stages of external metamorphosis, the tadpole's mouth changes from a small, enclosed mouth at the front of the head to a large mouth the same width as the head. The intestines shorten to accommodate the new diet. Most tadpoles are herbivorous, subsisting on algae and plants. Some species are omnivorous, eating detritus and when available, smaller tadpoles.

Despite their soft-bodied nature and lack of mineralised hard parts, fossil tadpoles (around 10 cm in length) have been recovered from Upper Miocene strata. They are preserved by virtue of biofilms, with more robust structures (the jaw & bones) preserved as a carbon film. In Miocene fossils from Libros, Spain, the brain case is preserved in calcium carbonate, and the nerve cord in calcium phosphate. Other parts of the tadpoles' bodies exist as organic remains and bacterial biofilms, with sedimentary detritus present in the gut. Tadpole remains with telltale external gills are also known from several of the Labyrinthodont groups.>>

Haydon wrote:If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd be asking what was covered up on the lower right side of the image using the duplicate tool / copy/paste.

bystander wrote:

muehlner wrote:This photo seems to be presented as a mirror image, according to http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 1/image/a/.
If that is the case then "upper left" would really mean upper right in the shown image and make more sense as the location of the other colliding galaxy.

Yes, thank you. The text was adapted from previous APODs and that got overlooked. The PTBs have been informed and the text fixed here.

Craine wrote:I am also curious about the galaxy at the bottom-center. It looks like it has two jets coming out of its center.
Does anybody know this galaxy's designation by any chance?

Fafers wrote:

Craine wrote:I am also curious about the galaxy at the bottom-center. It looks like it has two jets coming out of its center.
Does anybody know this galaxy's designation by any chance?

I noticed it too. Jets or the telltale sign of another colision/merger?

Craine wrote:I am also curious about the galaxy at the bottom-center. It looks like it has two jets coming out of its center.

Does anybody know this galaxy's designation by any chance?

Ann wrote:

Craine wrote:I am also curious about the galaxy at the bottom-center. It looks like it has two jets coming out of its center.

Does anybody know this galaxy's designation by any chance?

Whether or not the galaxy we see is actually PGC 57108, I would say that the "tail" emanating from the center of it is almost certainly some sort of tidal tail, produced by interaction with another (perhaps quite small) galaxy. Perhaps, indeed, the small bright "clump" sitting almost in the middle of this tail may be the culprit. If so the long stellar stream may come from the very small dwarf, not from the larger edge-on spiral.

Ann

austinjuan wrote:
what is the single biggest galaxy there is right now known to science and how many milky ways (not candy bars) would fit in it?

• Elliptical galaxy IC 1011 "is 60 times larger than the Milky Way"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1011 wrote:
<<IC 1011 is a galaxy described as a compact elliptical galaxy with apparent magnitude of 14.7, and with a redshift of z=0.02564 (SIMBAD) or 0.025703 (NASA), yielding a distance of 100 to 120 Megaparsecs. Its light has taken 349.5 million years to travel to Earth. IC 1011's calculated age is approximately 12.95 billion years. The IC designation comes from the Index Catalogue.>>

ddorn777 wrote:
would the probability of life be higher or lower, out there in the open?

• Yes it would.

neufer wrote:

ddorn777 wrote:
would the probability of life be higher or lower, out there in the open?

• Yes it would.

Anthony Barreiro wrote:It's really hard to calculate probabilities when your sample of planets known to harbor life is n=1.