Two galaxies seen in a 'joust' preceding a cosmic mega-merger
WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies - both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way - careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust.
The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe.
At the heart of one of the galaxies resides a quasar, a highly luminous object powered by gas and other material falling into a supermassive black hole. The intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum unleashed by the quasar is seen disrupting clouds of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, in the other galaxy.
It is molecular clouds that give rise to stars. But the effects of the quasar's radiation turned the clouds in the affected region into "only tiny dense cloudlets that are too small to form stars," said astrophysicist Sergei Balashev of the Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia, co-lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, opens new tab.
This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, Balashev said.
Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. But the galaxy affected by the quasar's radiation was left with fewer regions that could serve as such stellar nurseries, undermining its star formation rate.
The interaction between the two galaxies reminded the researchers of a medieval joust.
"Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them - the quasar host - emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation 'wounds' its 'opponent' as it disrupts the gas," said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France.
Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. The researchers estimated the mass of the one that serves as the engine of the quasar studied in this research at about 200 million times that of our sun.
The intense gravitational strength of the supermassive black hole pulls gas and other material toward it. As this stuff spirals inward at high speed, it heats up due to friction, forming a disk that emits extremely powerful radiation in two opposite directions, called biconical beams.
The ultraviolet light from one of these beams is what played havoc with the gas in the companion galaxy.
This supermassive black hole is much more massive than the one at the center of the Milky Way - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - which possesses roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).
The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, to characterize the two galaxies and used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, or VLT, to probe the quasar as well as the gas in the companion galaxy.
The configuration of the galaxies as viewed from the perspective of Earth enabled the researchers to observe the radiation from the quasar passing directly through the companion galaxy.
Most galactic mergers that have been observed by astronomers occurred later in the history of the universe.
"Galaxies are typically found in groups, and gravitational interactions naturally lead to mergers over cosmic time," Noterdaeme said. "In line with current understanding, these two galaxies will eventually coalesce into a single larger galaxy. The quasar will fade as it exhausts the available fuel."
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And wen we tink of hands, we dey tok about somtin wey dey veri delicate, made up of 27 bones, wey dey controlled by more dan 40 muscles, most of dem dey for di arm and dey connected to di fingers by a complex network of tendons", she explain. Dis mean say our handwriting dey partly influenced by our anatomy and di genetic characteristics we inherit from our parents. In oda words: your height, di way you sidon, di angle of your notebook or paper, di firmness of your hand, weda you dey right- or left-handed... All dis dey influence di shape of di letters and words we dey produce. But small cultural influence dey wey dem no fit ignored. Abi na for house, for early childhood, wey we dey learn to hold pencil or pen, wit di help of our elders. Di way dem use dis utensils, dem dey pass am on wen di pikin take im first strokes wit pencil. Den school kon join - and a new wave of influence from teachers and classmates enta di mata. As di years go by, our writing go kontinu to change. 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Wen a parent teach dia pikin to write, e dey highly likely say we go find similarities between di two scripts. But pesin handwriting dey also influenced by di time dem bin spend for school or by di style of a particular teacher." Di brain during writing Neuroscientist Marieke Longcamp, from di University of Aix-Marseille for France, dey studying how we take sabi how to write. To do am, she use magnetic resonance imaging machines, wey dey allow pesin brain to be view in real time as dem dey perform certain activities. For one of di study, dem give di volunteers tablet (writing material) wey fit record dia writing movements while dem dey examine dem. Ms Longcamp report say e dey possible to observe di activation of different parts of di brain, wey dey work togeda to make di complex act of writing possible. Regions like di premotor cortex, primary motor cortex and parietal cortex dey involved for di planning and control of hand gestures," she tells CrowdScience. Structures wey dey for di base of di brain, like di frontal gyrus, wey dey involved in certain aspects of language, and di fusiform gyrus, wey dey process written language dey influence writing." 'Anoda fundamental structure na di cerebellum, wey dey coordinate movements and corrects our gestures', Marieke Longcamp add. Di neuroscientist point out say writing depend essentially on two senses: vision and proprioception. "Proprioception dey takes into account information from di muscles, di skin and di whole body. All dis dey encoded wen we write", she explain. How writing influence learning? For dis context, e dey curious to see how di development of technology fit influence di way we understand information. For many centuries, good old-fashioned writing na di only way to take notes, study, memorise and learn different tins. But dis don change radically in recent years wit di arrival of computers, tablets and smartphones. 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The Guardian
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