BREAKING NEWS: Malin 1: A Bizarre Galaxy Gets Slightly Less So

Malin 1, the prototypical giant low surface brightness galaxy, harbors a
normal disk of stars, says an astronomer in California. A Hubble image
reveals a barred spiral galaxy at Malin 1's center. As a result, Malin 1 may
no longer be classified as a low surface brightness galaxy.

Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.
Its spiral disk is 650,000 light-years across--several times bigger than the
Milky Way's--but the stars are so spread out from one another that the disk
looks extremely diffuse, having what astronomers call a low surface
brightness.

For the full story, including a never-before-published HST image of Malin 1,
please see http://KenCroswell.com/Malin1.html .

Correct email: MagnificentUniverse "at" yahoo "dot" com.

Magnificent Universe wrote:
Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.

I'd love to know how they know that. There are huge areas of the
universe where we can't even see (i.e. obstructed by the contents of
our own galaxy).

Austin

AustinMN wrote:

Magnificent Universe wrote:
Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.

I'd love to know how they know that. There are huge areas of the
universe where we can't even see (i.e. obstructed by the contents of
our own galaxy).

Austin

Make that observed/observable universe, since most of our universe hasn't
been seen since light hasn't reached us yet.

Klaatu wrote:
AustinMN wrote:

Magnificent Universe wrote:
Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.
I'd love to know how they know that. There are huge areas of the
universe where we can't even see (i.e. obstructed by the contents of
our own galaxy).

Austin

Make that observed/observable universe, since most of our universe hasn't
been seen since light hasn't reached us yet.

It's too bad: the combination of such an silly claim with the
tabloid-style screaming-for-attention "BREAKING NEWS" subject probably
puts a lot of people off from vising the web site. IMNSHO, of course.

Greg

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools: http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html
Observing: http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html
Comets: http://www.skyhound.com/sh/comets.html

To reply take out your eye

Magnificent Universe wrote:

Malin 1, the prototypical giant low surface brightness galaxy, harbors a
normal disk of stars, says an astronomer in California. A Hubble image
reveals a barred spiral galaxy at Malin 1's center. As a result, Malin 1
may no longer be classified as a low surface brightness galaxy.

Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.
Its spiral disk is 650,000 light-years across--several times bigger than
the Milky Way's--but the stars are so spread out from one another that the
disk looks extremely diffuse, having what astronomers call a low surface
brightness.

For the full story, including a never-before-published HST image of Malin
1, please see http://KenCroswell.com/Malin1.html .

Correct email: MagnificentUniverse "at" yahoo "dot" com.

Since this discovery was made by a pro using archival data I was wondering.
Do you know what resources are available online for amateur research? It
would be nice if there was a central link to these resources, Sloan Soho
etc., with a short description of what is available and different "views"
that can be applied to that data. With the growing amount of digital info
these days the pro's could probably use a hand from experience amateurs, no
telescope required just a fast internet connection.

Klaatu wrote:
AustinMN wrote:

Magnificent Universe wrote:
Discovered in 1986, Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy in the universe.

I'd love to know how they know that. There are huge areas of the
universe where we can't even see (i.e. obstructed by the contents of
our own galaxy).

Austin

Make that observed/observable universe, since most of our universe hasn't
been seen since light hasn't reached us yet.

Even with this condition, somehow I doubt this one galaxy has been
compared to all of the thousands of millions of galaxies we can observe
to make sure it is the largest.

Austin

In article ,
Klaatu writes:
Do you know what resources are available online for amateur research? It
would be nice if there was a central link to these resources,

You might try a web search on "virtual observatory." There's already
a lot online and publically accessible, but most of it is in separate
archives, and you have to know where to look and how to access the
data from each archive. Virtual Observatory is supposed to provide
indexing and a common interface, but that's a few years in the
future.

If you have specific objects in mind, you can try NASA Extragalactic
Database ( http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/ ) or SIMBAD (US mirror at
http://simbad.harvard.edu/sim-fid.pl ). They have indexes to data at
various archive sites.

Alternatively, if you know what products you want, you can go
directly to observatory archives: HST, Chandra, Spitzer, IRSA,
( http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/ ) or others.

You are quite right that there are plenty of discoveries to be made
by sifting through the various archives.

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)

Klaatu wrote in
:

Since this discovery was made by a pro using archival data I was
wondering. Do you know what resources are available online for amateur
research? It would be nice if there was a central link to these

Here is one

http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/