Nebulae, Galaxies: Images of the Universe, Nebulae and Galaxies in HD
Nebulae, Galaxies: Images of the Universe, Nebulae and Galaxies in HD
A wealth of stunning astronomical images produced over a period of almost 30 years by the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Here are just a few of the images in this video: The Great Attractor, N44 Nebula, Tarantula Nebula, Messier 83, Chandra Deep Field, Omega Centauri, Eagle Nebula, Helix Nebula, Trifid Nebula, Lagoon Nebula, Eta Carina Nebula, Meathook Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Centaurus A, Cat’s Paw Nebula, Pencil Nebula, Seagull Nebula, Lupus 3 Dark Cloud, Barnard 86, and Messier 78.
A nebula (from Latin: “cloud”;[1] pl. nebulae or nebulæ, with ligature, or nebulas) is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, was referred to as the Andromeda Nebula (and spiral galaxies in general as “spiral nebulae”) before the true nature of galaxies was confirmed in the early 20th century by Vesto Slipher, Edwin Hubble and others. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Eagle Nebula. This nebula is depicted in one of NASA’s most famous images, the “Pillars of Creation”. In these regions the formations of gas, dust, and other materials “clump” together to form larger masses, which attract further matter, and eventually will become massive enough to form stars. The remaining materials are then believed to form planets, and other planetary system objects.
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system consisting of stars, stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and dark matter, an important but poorly understood component.[1][2] The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally “milky”, a reference to the Milky Way. Examples of galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (107) stars[3] to giants with one hundred trillion (1014) stars,[4] each orbiting their galaxy’s own center of mass.
From Wikipedia:
Galaxies contain varying numbers of planets, star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. In between these objects is a sparse interstellar medium of gas, dust, and cosmic rays. Supermassive black holes reside at the center of most galaxies. They are thought to be the primary driver of active galactic nuclei found at the core of some galaxies. The Milky Way galaxy is known to harbor at least one such object.[5]
Galaxies have been historically categorized according to their apparent shape, usually referred to as their visual morphology. A common form is the elliptical galaxy,[6] which has an ellipse-shaped light profile. Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped with dusty, curving arms. Those with irregular or unusual shapes are known as irregular galaxies and typically originate from disruption by the gravitational pull of neighboring galaxies. Such interactions between nearby galaxies, which may ultimately result in a merger, sometimes induce significantly increased incidents of star formation leading to starburst galaxies. Smaller galaxies lacking a coherent structure are referred to as irregular galaxies.[7]
There are probably more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe.[8] Most are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in diameter and usually separated by distances on the order of millions of parsecs (or megaparsecs). Intergalactic space (the space between galaxies) is filled with a tenuous gas of an average density less than one atom per cubic meter. The majority of galaxies are organized into a neither fully random nor planned set of associations known as galaxy groups and clusters, which, in turn usually form larger superclusters. At the largest scale, these associations are generally arranged into sheets and filaments, which are surrounded by immense voids.[9]
From Wikipedia:
Leave A Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Latest Articles
Paranormal
