|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
10-15-2010, 08:23 AM | #1 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
WOW! 800 Trillion Suns at 7 billion light years away
ScienceDaily (Oct. 14, 2010) — Astronomers using the South Pole Telescope report that they have discovered the most massive galaxy cluster yet seen at a distance of 7 billion light-years. The cluster (designated SPT-CL J0546-5345) weighs in at around 800 trillion Suns, and holds hundreds of galaxies.
"This galaxy cluster wins the heavyweight title. It's among the most massive clusters ever found at this distance," said Mark Brodwin, a Smithsonian astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Brodwin is first author on the paper announcing the discovery, which appeared in the Astrophysical Journal..... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1013122559.htm I thought this part interesting as well as the main discovery: They're hunting for giant galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect -- a small distortion of the cosmic microwave background (a pervasive all-sky glow left over from the Big Bang). Such distortions are created as background radiation passes through a large galaxy cluster. Last edited by kennyc; 10-15-2010 at 08:30 AM. |
10-15-2010, 09:05 AM | #2 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,395
Karma: 1358132
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: UK
Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3
|
|
Advert | |
|
10-15-2010, 11:46 AM | #3 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
I've corrected the thread title to read "800 trillion suns..." (it previously, and incorrectly, said "million" instead of "trillion").
|
10-15-2010, 11:50 AM | #4 |
Addict
Posts: 241
Karma: 2617
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Greenwood, SC
Device: Kindle 2
|
"WOW! 800 Trillion Suns at 7 billion light years away"
Well, at least there were... 7 billion years is a pretty long time ago. |
10-15-2010, 11:52 AM | #5 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
Not a particularly long time in the lifetime of a galaxy. Our own Sun, for example, at about 5 billion years old, is only about half way through its lifetime as a main sequence star.
|
Advert | |
|
10-15-2010, 11:59 AM | #6 |
Addict
Posts: 241
Karma: 2617
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Greenwood, SC
Device: Kindle 2
|
7 billion years is half the (believed) lifetime of the universe. I'd say that's pretty long. Who knows how many of those galaxies have drifted away, or collided, &c.?
|
10-15-2010, 12:11 PM | #7 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
|
10-15-2010, 12:12 PM | #8 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
|
10-15-2010, 12:19 PM | #9 | |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
Quote:
Galaxies are among the oldest things in the universe - pretty much all the galaxies we see today had formed within a billion years of the Big Bang; our own Milky Way galaxy appears to have formed within 100 million years of the BB (you can estimate the age of a galaxy by looking at the amount of beryllium in its globular clusters - it's an element whose abundance has increased pretty much linearly throughout the lifetime of the universe). Galaxies don't really "die". They are gravitationally bound structures which "stick together" pretty much forever. They may cease star formation eventually (although none has yet done so), but the galaxy carries on, and its mass really doesn't change. Hence my view that if this galaxy cluster contained 800 trillion solar mass' worth of material 7 billion years ago, it's still going to do so today. |
|
10-16-2010, 10:08 PM | #10 |
Banned
Posts: 1,344
Karma: 1028477047
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Nueva Andalucía
Device: Sony PRS 650
|
deleted.
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Offline Book "Lending" Costs U.S. Publishers Nearly $1 Trillion | anurag | News | 42 | 01-21-2010 01:40 AM |
Man Sues Bank Of America For "1,784 BILLION, TRILLION Dollars" | Sweetpea | Lounge | 11 | 09-27-2009 11:05 PM |
A Reynolds - House of Suns, ebook version? | BlackVoid | Reading Recommendations | 2 | 07-20-2008 08:50 AM |
Free Sci/Fi Novel for the Kindle: Sun of Suns | Kingston | Amazon Kindle | 0 | 04-25-2008 07:59 PM |