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Orbiting Observatory Detects Organic Chemistry In One Of The Most Luminous Galaxies Ever Found
Spitzer telescope image SSC2003-06a @
http://sirtf.caltech.edu/Media/relea...2003-06a.shtml ............is very well done! The whole site is very interesting I'll spend hours there thanx 4 sharing............... Terri................ "Ron Baalke" wrote in message ... | http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases...Houck.deb.html | | Orbiting observatory detects organic chemistry in one of the most | luminous galaxies ever found | | FOR RELEASE: DEC. 18, 2003 | | Contact: David Brand | Office: 607-255-3651 | E-mail: | | | ITHACA, N.Y. -- An instrument aboard NASA's recently launched | orbiting infrared observatory has found evidence of organic molecules | in an enormously powerful galaxy some 3.25 billion light years from | the Earth. So powerful is the source, that it is equal to 10 trillion | times the luminosity of the sun, making it one of the brightest | galaxies ever detected. | | The instrument on the newly named Spitzer Space Telescope (previously | called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF) is the | infrared spectrograph, or IRS. James Houck, professor of astronomy at | Cornell University, heads the scientific team on the $39 million IRS | contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a | division of the California Institute of Technology, manager of the | mission for NASA. | | Houck participated in a press conference at NASA headquarters in | Washington, D.C., today (Dec. 18) at which the first observations and | data from the half-billion-dollar observatory, launched Aug. 25, were | released. Among the most spectacular details released were dazzling | images taken with the space telescope's infrared-array camera and | with its multiband-imaging photometer. The images include a glowing | stellar nursery; a swirling, dusty galaxy; a disc of planet-forming | debris; and organic material in the distant universe. | | The IRS, one of three instruments carried by the space telescope, is | the most sensitive infrared spectrograph ever to go into space. In | less than 15 minutes it produced a spectrum of the distant galaxy | IRAS 00183, first observed by the infrared astronomical satellite | (IRAS) in 1983. The spectrum "gives evidence for organic chemistry in | a distant galaxy shortly after the formation of the Earth," says | Houck. (While the Spitzer observatory's cameras take infrared | snapshots of distant galaxies and dust clouds, and objects too cool | to emit visible light, the IRS determines their precise infrared | colors. Astronomers are then able to read the peaks and valleys in | the spectrum, called emission and absorption lines, to determine the | chemical mix of the object being observed.) | | In an optical image, the IRAS galaxy appears as no more than a faint | smudge. But the IRS spectrum -- the first detailed look at the galaxy | -- shows a broad silicate feature. The dominant absorber of visible | energy is tiny silicate dust particles. The silicate dust is so | opaque that only a small percentage of the visible light escapes the | galaxy, says Houck. | | "We are seeing the merger of two galaxies. This produces one of two | effects: Either what we are seeing is a brief flash of incredibly | strong star formation, or one or both of the galaxies contained a | black hole before colliding. The massive black holes are releasing | the energy by swallowing stars and gas," says Houck. In both cases, | he says, the collision would compress gas that would trigger the star | formation or the release of energy from the black hole, a process | called "feeding the monster." | | Both scenarios have problems, Houck concedes. "One is, how do you get | enough gas close enough to a black hole to make all this happen? And | how do you get stars to form so quickly all at the same time?" | | Houck's IRS team also released a spectrum of HH46IR, a "dusty, dirty | cloud" in our galaxy, the Milky Way, that visible light is unable to | penetrate. The spectrum shows the cloud to be a region of star | formation containing organic materials, including methyl alcohol, | carbon dioxide ice and carbon monoxide gas and ice. | | Houck also notes that the IRS is "working well" and is likely to be | "a workhorse for years to come." During November, he relates, the | instrument was subject to a massive proton "storm" in space, with 1.6 | billion atomic particles (mostly protons) bombarding a square | centimeter of the instrument in just two days. "It was a staggering | event," he says. | | | | Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide | additional information on this news release. Some might not be part | of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over | their content or availability. | | o Spitzer Space Telescope/JPL: http://sirtf.caltech.edu/ | | o Cornell News Service reports on Spitzer/IRS: | | http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/SIRTF/ | | -30- | -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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Orbiting Observatory Detects Organic Chemistry In One Of The Most Luminous Galaxies Ever Found
Houck participated in a press conference at NASA headquarters in
| Washington, D.C., today (Dec. 18) at which the first observations and | data from the half-billion-dollar observatory, launched Aug. 25, were | released. Among the most spectacular details released were ////////// or is it the following === infrared spectrograph, or IRS. James Houck, professor of astronomy at | Cornell University, heads the scientific team on the $39 million IRS | contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a | division of the California Institute of Technology, manager of the |
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