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Today’s Space Nugget…”The matter in the universe is so thinly dispersed that the universe can be compared with a building twenty miles long, twenty miles wide, and twenty miles high, containing only a single grain of sand“. 
 
 
GALAXY OF THE DAY
 

This is ESO 510-G13 as viewed from Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope, this galaxy is in the constellation Hydra 150 million light years from Earth. Instead of it being flat as normal spiral galaxies are when viewed edge on, this one is warped and twisted. The very pronounced warping of this galaxy is caused by immense tidal forces from a collision with another galaxy relatively recently, and the intruder is in the process of merging with ESO 510-G13. When galaxy collisions like this happen there are always intense bursts of star formation, and this can be seen in the dusty outer regions of the galaxy’s disk. Gas and dust in both galaxies compress when they smash together, triggering star burst.

This is ESO 510-G13 as viewed from Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope, this galaxy is in the constellation Hydra 150 million light years from Earth. Instead of it being flat as normal spiral galaxies are when viewed edge on, this one is warped and twisted. The very pronounced warping of this galaxy is caused by immense tidal forces from a collision with another galaxy relatively recently, and the intruder is in the process of merging with ESO 510-G13. When galaxy collisions like this happen there are always intense bursts of star formation, and this can be seen in the dusty outer regions of the galaxy’s disk. Gas and dust in both galaxies compress when they smash together, triggering star burst.

 

 

Latest Article…7th November 09 “The Hubble Telescope, Two Decades of Discovery” 

 

ASTRONOMY NEWS

16th November 09…Scottish park one of the worlds best for stargazers…

The pristine skies over Galloway Forest Park

The pristine skies over Galloway Forest Park

The UK does have a bad problem with light pollution, with glare shining into the night sky from innumerable street lights, cars, motorways, shopping centres, and the combined glare from whole cities. It causes a horrible orange pall that blocks out the majestic Milky Way, and frustrates astronomers no end. More than 90% of people in the UK can no longer see the Milky Way from where they live.
 
You would think that looking for a dark sky in the UK would be a challenge, but there is an oasis, a haven of 300 square miles of forest that has been recognised as one of the best places in the world to see the Milky Way and it’s wonders. Galloway Forest Park in south west Scotland has been awarded the status of the UK’s first dark sky park by the International Dark Sky Association. This has been made official over the weekend at the International Dark Sky Association’s AGM in Arizona. Previously Galloway’s sky was measured with a sky quality meter denoting just how dark the sky is.

This dark sky park is a real asset for the UK and brings into the public spotlight, no pun intended, the problems of light pollution. Finally a protected area where we can see the night sky as it is supposed to be.

  

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