The Antennae galaxies as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope and the focus of new supercomputer simulations to help explain how violently turbulent "starburst galaxies" like these form.
NASA/ESA/Hubble
Hubble's Sexiest Spiral Galaxies: Photos
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Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's famous Ultra-Deep Field (UDF) observation, astronomers have been able to deduce at what age spiral galaxies acquire their spiral structure . Since its launch in 1990, the veteran observatory has studied countless galaxies, but some of the most striking images are that of the majestic spirals that pervade the entire observable universe. In this celebration of spiral galaxies and Hubble's prowess at imaging them, we've collected some of our favorite galactic views from the space telescope's archives. NEWS: When Did Galaxies Get Their Spirals? In this majestic image, phenomenal detail in galaxy NGC 2841 's spiraling dust lanes have been captured.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
View Caption + #2: Spiral galaxy
NGC 5866 as seen nearly edge-on from Hubble's perspective. The dark galactic dust silhouettes the bright galactic core.
NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #3: An
unnamed spiral galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, around 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, shows off some intricate detail in its arms.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #4: The famous
Sombrero galaxy (Messier 104) is an edge-on spiral galaxy -- the "rim" of the sombrero is thick lanes of dust obscuring the galaxy's starlight.
NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #5: M81
is another spiral galaxy not too dissimilar to our Milky Way. Young, bluish stars track along the galaxy's majestic arms, while older, redder stars cluster in its bright core.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #6: This unique view of
M106 is a combination of Hubble data and photographs taken by astrophotographer Robert Gendler.
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team)
View Caption + #7: The 'classic' spiral
Whirlpool Galaxy gravitationally interacts with a neighboring galaxy, refining its very clear spiral arms.
NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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To celebrate Hubble's 21st year in space, astronomers released this striking image of a pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273 . (Image rotated)
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #9: The 3 galaxies of
Arp 274 appear to be very close to one another, but astronomers believe that they are far apart and only overlapping from our perspective.
NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View Caption + #10: Galaxy
UGC 10214 is undergoing some violent gravitational disturbances after a suspected galactic collision. The creation of the stream of stars post-collision appear as a tail, giving the galaxy "The Tadpole" moniker. To see full-resolution images and more detail on the galaxies showcased here, browse the mindblowing online Hubble album.
NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA
When two galaxies collide, astronomers witness a frenzy of star formation creating what are known as “starburst galaxies.” Although this is known, it’s a little counter-intuitive; during galactic mergers, the swirling interstellar gases are so turbulent that star formation should be switched off . So what’s going on?
Using two of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, French astrophysicists simulated 300,000 light-years of interstellar gas inside a Milky Way-like galaxy (on the TGCC Curiesupercomputer in France) and a volume of gas, 600,000 million light-years wide, inside two merging galaxies (on the SuperMUCsupercomputer in Germany). Committing millions of hours of computational time, the simulation replicated the random motions of gas inside the galactic disks, resolving chaotic features fractions of a light-year across.
A frame from the simulation of the two colliding ‘Antennae’ galaxies. Here the galaxies are re-shaped after their first encounter. High resolution allows the astrophysicists to explore the smallest details. Stars are formed in the densest regions (yellow and red) under the effect of compressive turbulence. Star formation is more efficient here than in normal galaxies like our Milky Way.
Credit: F. Renaud/CEA-Sap
It is known that dense clouds of interstellar gas can collapse under mutual gravity, eventually sparking fusion and new stars. But in the turbulent wake of a galactic merger, star formation should be hindered, not accelerated. Turbulence should disrupt star forming regions, fragmenting the cloud. As these simulations prove, however, it is this turbulence that actually accelerates star birth, driving starburst galaxies.
The researchers were able to compare the two simulations, showing that in the collision model, violent turbulence makes interstellar gases ripe for compression (and not dispersion), accelerating star birth.
“This is a big step forward in our understanding of star formation, something only made possible by the similarly major and parallel advances in computing power,” said lead researcher Florent Renaud of the AIM institute near Paris. “These systems are helping us unlock the nature of galaxies and their contents in ever more detail, helping astronomers to slowly assemble their complete history.”
Like the recent supercomputer simulation that was used to model the evolution of our Universe, this example once again proves that despite the incredible complexities that underlie astrophysical processes, computing power is rapidly becoming more capable, allowing us a high-resolution glimpse at what drives the inner dynamics of starburst galaxies.