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Super Spiral Galaxies Amaze Astronomers
Scientific American ^ | 8 Dec, 2015 | KEN CROSWELL

Posted on 12/09/2015 7:35:23 PM PST by MtnClimber

They're big, they're bright, they're beautiful—and they shouldn't even exist, at least to our current astronomical knowledge: gargantuan spiral galaxies that make our giant Milky Way seem downright modest. Spirals are supposed to be small fry compared to the greatest giant ellipticals, which are football-shaped swarms of stars thought to be the universe’s biggest and brightest galaxies. But now a search across billions of light-years has snared a rare breed of "super spiral" galaxies that rival their giant elliptical peers in size and luminosity, raising questions over how such behemoths are born. "I was really surprised," says Patrick Ogle, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology who discovered the super spirals earlier this year. Ogle looked for them by analyzing the NASA Extragalactic Database, an online compendium of galaxy information. He examined nearly 800,000 galaxies within 3.5 billion light-years of Earth, ranking them by luminosity—in particular, by how much visible light they radiate.


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: galaxies; universe
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1 posted on 12/09/2015 7:35:23 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

How is that supposed to fit in a 10,000 light year radius visible universe?


2 posted on 12/09/2015 7:37:41 PM PST by ctdonath2 (History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the week or the timid. - Ike)
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To: MtnClimber
Seems only the bands in the spiral galaxies have a lack of turbulence to allow dust and gas to form stars
3 posted on 12/09/2015 7:38:58 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


4 posted on 12/09/2015 7:40:09 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: ctdonath2

Where did you ever get the notion that the visible universe had a radius of 10,000 light years? It’s several billion light years. (7 if I remember.)


5 posted on 12/09/2015 7:40:29 PM PST by dangus
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To: ctdonath2

0bama will fix it. Probably caused by global warming.


6 posted on 12/09/2015 7:41:08 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

ttiuwp


7 posted on 12/09/2015 7:41:53 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: MtnClimber

Its hard to imagine that a universe with “billions of galaxies” got started with one “big bang”.


8 posted on 12/09/2015 7:42:31 PM PST by allendale
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To: MtnClimber

Could it be because they have two balls rather than one?


9 posted on 12/09/2015 7:43:59 PM PST by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN - 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle!)
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To: MtnClimber

No no no it’s CLIMATE CHANGE, not global warming. Let’s get our narrative right ok???

lol...


10 posted on 12/09/2015 7:44:38 PM PST by Paleo Pete (I'm with the bomb squad. If you see me running, CATCH UP!)
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To: Paleo Pete

I blame martians causing intergalactic warming in their essss ewe vees.


11 posted on 12/09/2015 7:45:52 PM PST by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: dangus

12 posted on 12/09/2015 7:50:43 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: dangus
"Where did you ever get the notion that the visible universe had a radius of 10,000 light years? It’s several billion light years. (7 if I remember.)"

Currently, the Universe is estimated to be at least 13.7 billion light years in size according to the survey and measurements of the WMAP satellite taken a few years ago. Supposedly, we cannot see anything past that limit at this time.

13 posted on 12/09/2015 7:52:05 PM PST by StormEye
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To: MtnClimber

That area isn’t even zoned for super-spiral galaxies. Someone got paid off.


14 posted on 12/09/2015 7:52:41 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: dangus
92,000,000,000 light years in diameter.

http://www.space.com/24073-how-big-is-the-universe.html

15 posted on 12/09/2015 7:55:13 PM PST by rickmichaels
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To: StormEye

92 billion.


16 posted on 12/09/2015 7:55:53 PM PST by rickmichaels
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To: allendale

And He made the stars also.


17 posted on 12/09/2015 7:55:54 PM PST by Rodm
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To: dangus

“Young Earth” adherents contend the Earth/Universe is 10,000 years old. Thus the light cone for the Earth can only be 10,000 light years radius.


18 posted on 12/09/2015 7:56:56 PM PST by ctdonath2 (History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the week or the timid. - Ike)
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To: StormEye
"Currently, the Universe is estimated to be at least 13.7 billion light years in size according to the survey and measurements of the WMAP satellite taken a few years ago. Supposedly, we cannot see anything past that limit at this time. "

What survey and by what "meaurements?" Please be specific. Thank you.

19 posted on 12/09/2015 7:57:58 PM PST by Fungi
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To: ctdonath2
How is that supposed to fit in a 10,000 light year radius visible universe?

Our own galaxy is about 100,000 light years across.

20 posted on 12/09/2015 8:01:47 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Terrorism, the thing that shall not be named by the MSM)
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