Posted on 02/21/2016 7:08:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What's lighting up the Cigar Galaxy? M82, as this irregular galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas, however. Evidence indicates that this gas is being driven out by the combined emerging particle winds of many stars, together creating a galactic superwind. The featured photographic mosaic highlights a specific color of red light strongly emitted by ionized hydrogen gas, showing detailed filaments of this gas. The filaments extend for over 10,000 light years. The 12-million light-year distant Cigar Galaxy is the brightest galaxy in the sky in infrared light, and can be seen in visible light with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major).
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgement: M. Mountain (STScI), P. Puxley (NSF), J. Gallagher (U. Wisconsin)]
Unfortunately, the Cigar Galaxy is getting more difficult to see because of complaints from the nearby Elevator Galaxy. Yeah, I didn't laugh either.
The Big One
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Sorry, I shouldn’t have had the beans.
I would avoid the exploding cigar galaxy.
Does the horse head nebula that we all grew up seeing in the 60s still look like a horse head today some 40 50 years later ?
When a galaxy passes wind, look out!
Interesting question. It’s 2-3 light years across, so something moving in it would still have to be traveling an appreciable percentage of the speed of light just for us to notice it in half a century.
With ZERO knowledge, I would think 20 years is nothing in the scheme and that the nebula while in motion would look exactly the same a million years from now...?
Hubble Space Telescope infrared image.
From the European Southern Observatory, 2002
Wow looks very different than the old school pictures thanks for posting
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