Latest news with #cosmicjoust
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists spot high-speed galaxy collision 11 billion light-years away: 'We hence call this system the cosmic joust'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Using a telescope in Chile, astronomers have captured a high-speed collision between two galaxies located more than 11 billion light-years away, getting a rare direct glimpse into how the universe's most luminous sources of energy, known as quasars, can sculpt their surroundings and influence the evolution of galaxies. The new findings describe a galactic battle between the galaxy on the right in the image above, which hosts an actively feeding black hole, a quasar, at its center, and its neighbor on the left, which is being bombarded by intense radiation that disrupts its ability to form new stars. "We hence call this system the 'cosmic joust,'" Pasquier Noterdaeme, a researcher at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris in France, who co-led the new study, said in a statement. Named J012555.11−012925.00, the quasar is generally so bright that it outshines its surroundings, dominating optical images as a single point of light. However, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a network of 66 radio dishes in the Chilean Andes working together as one giant telescope, astronomers were able to distinguish the second galaxy. The observations revealed the companion galaxy is moving toward the quasar-hosting galaxy at about 1.2 million miles per hour (2 million kilometers per hour), indicating the two are in the midst of a high-speed collision. To study how the quasar's radiation affects the companion galaxy, the researchers used the X-shooter instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), also located in Chile. By analyzing the quasar's light as it passed through the other galaxy, they found the radiation blasts apart the gas in the companion galaxy, leaving behind compact cloudlets that are too small to form new stars. Related Stories: — Why do dwarf galaxies line up? 'Zippers' and 'twisters' in the early universe may solve a galactic mystery — Scientists calculate when the universe will end — it's sooner than expected — Amateur astrophotographer captures a stunning galaxy 24 million light-years from Earth (photo) "We see for the first time the effect of a quasar's radiation directly on the internal structure of the gas in an otherwise regular galaxy," Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in Russia, who co-led the study, said in the statement. The gravitational forces at play are also pulling more gas toward the black hole, allowing it to continue feeding and powering the quasar, the study found. "These mergers are thought to bring huge amounts of gas to supermassive black holes residing in galaxy centres," said Balashev. The study was published on Wednesday (May 21) in the journal Nature.
CTV News
24-05-2025
- Science
- CTV News
Galaxies battle in ‘cosmic joust' witnessed by astronomers for the first time
An image taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows the molecular gas content of the two galaxies involved in the cosmic joust. (ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Balashev and P. Noterdaeme et al. via CNN Newsource) Astronomers have for the first time spotted two galaxies in the throes of a deep-space 'duel.' Using combined observations from ground-based telescopes over nearly four years, the researchers saw the distant galactic neighbors charging toward each other at more than 1.1 million miles per hour (1.8 million kilometres per hour). One repeatedly wielded its intense beams of radiation at the other, dispersing gas clouds and weakening its opponent's ability to form new stars. 'That's why we call it a 'cosmic joust,'' said Pasquier Noterdaeme, a researcher for the Paris Institute of Astrophysics and the French-Chilean Laboratory for Astronomy in Chile who was part of the team that made the discovery. What Noterdaeme and his colleagues spied was a distant snapshot of the two galaxies in the process of merging into one large galaxy 11 billion light-years away. The findings, described in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, provide a rare look into earlier times in the universe, when star formation and galaxy mergers were more common. Zooming in Working with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the researchers found that the 'attacking' galaxy's piercing radiation comes from within its bright core, a quasar, powered by a supermassive black hole. The intense gravitational influence of a black hole draws matter toward it in such an energetic way that dust and gas heat up to millions of degrees and become luminous, according to NASA. These luminous materials spiral around the black hole before entering, forming what's called an 'accretion disk,' and jets of energetic matter beam out away from the center. Each blast of the quasar's ultraviolet waves are about a thousand times stronger than the radiation of our Milky Way, causing hydrogen molecules from some of the 'victim' galaxy's star-forming nurseries to split and disperse, according to the study. Stars form when large clumps of gas and dust reach a critical mass and collapse under their own gravity. However, researchers observed that after being dispersed by the radiation, the clouds were not dense or large enough to create new stars. As additional material from the victim galaxy is drawn within reach of the supermassive black hole, it fuels the quasar with more energy. Quasars have been known to essentially 'switch off' from time to time, said study coauthor Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, which could give molecular clouds the opportunity to reform. 'It's really the first time that we can see the radiative effect of a quasar on the molecular gas of a nearby galaxy,' Balashev said. Until now, this effect had only been theorized but not confirmed through direct observation. Scientists initially wanted to observe this particular quasar more closely because of its unique features among thousands of low-resolution spectra, which are like fingerprints for distant celestial objects, offering clues about composition, temperature and activity within them. 'It's really (like) finding a needle in a haystack,' Balashev said. However, the light from quasars is so powerful that it often outshines their own host galaxies, making it difficult to observe other galaxies close by, according to Noterdaeme, the study's co-lead author. Highly dynamic, luminous quasars are rare, according to NASA. Only about 1,000 of these objects are known to exist in the early days of the universe, Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, previously told CNN via email. 'At first, we just knew there was some molecular gas between the (attacking galaxy's) quasar and us. It's only after, when we started to look with bigger telescopes, that we detected there were actually two galaxies,' Noterdaeme said. While the dueling pair appears to be overlapping in the low-resolution spectra, the high-resolution imaging capabilities of ALMA revealed the galaxies are actually separated by thousands of light-years. Using the Very Large Telescope, the researchers were able to study the density and distance of the gas affected by the quasar's radiation. Since the light from these objects came from billions of light-years away in the early universe, it's possible the two galaxies have already merged by now, but there is no way to be sure, Balashev said. A blast from the past Scientists believe quasars and galaxy mergers used to be far more common earlier in the universe's lifetime, said Dong-Woo Kim, an astrophysicist with the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who was not involved in the research. Galaxies merge when they are pulled toward each other by gravity, and the universe used to be more densely packed together. Over time, the universe has expanded, and more galaxies have combined into larger ones, Kim said. Noterdaeme said that 10 billion years ago was an interesting time in the universe, adding that astronomers call this period when stars formed at a rapid rate the 'noon of the universe.' Though less frequent, galaxy mergers are still happening all the time, Kim said. Even our own Milky Way is expected to merge with the Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years, but the study team isn't certain yet whether the 'cosmic joust' phenomenon is a common feature when two galaxies collide and form a larger one. 'It's an exciting field to study,' Kim said. 'Research like this can teach us more about the birth of new galaxies and observe how they evolve over time.' Kameryn Griesser, CNN
CNN
23-05-2025
- Science
- CNN
‘Cosmic joust': Astronomers catch first sight of two dueling galaxies
(CNN) — Astronomers have for the first time spotted two galaxies in the throes of a deep-space 'duel.' Using combined observations from ground-based telescopes over nearly four years, the researchers saw the distant galactic neighbors charging toward each other at more than 1.1 million miles per hour (1.8 million kilometers per hour). One repeatedly wielded its intense beams of radiation at the other, dispersing gas clouds and weakening its opponent's ability to form new stars. 'That's why we call it a 'cosmic joust,'' said Pasquier Noterdaeme, a researcher for the Paris Institute of Astrophysics and the French-Chilean Laboratory for Astronomy in Chile who was part of the team that made the discovery. What Noterdaeme and his colleagues spied was a distant snapshot of the two galaxies in the process of merging into one large galaxy 11 billion light-years away. The findings, described in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, provide a rare look into earlier times in the universe, when star formation and galaxy mergers were more common. Working with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the researchers found that the 'attacking' galaxy's piercing radiation comes from within its bright core, a quasar, powered by a supermassive black hole. The intense gravitational influence of a black hole draws matter toward it in such an energetic way that dust and gas heat up to millions of degrees and become luminous, according to NASA. These luminous materials spiral around the black hole before entering, forming what's called an 'accretion disk,' and jets of energetic matter beam out away from the center. Each blast of the quasar's ultraviolet waves are about a thousand times stronger than the radiation of our Milky Way, causing hydrogen molecules from some of the 'victim' galaxy's star-forming nurseries to split and disperse, according to the study. Stars form when large clumps of gas and dust reach a critical mass and collapse under their own gravity. However, researchers observed that after being dispersed by the radiation, the clouds were not dense or large enough to create new stars. As additional material from the victim galaxy is drawn within reach of the supermassive black hole, it fuels the quasar with more energy. Quasars have been known to essentially 'switch off' from time to time, said study coauthor Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, which could give molecular clouds the opportunity to reform. 'It's really the first time that we can see the radiative effect of a quasar on the molecular gas of a nearby galaxy,' Balashev said. Until now, this effect had only been theorized but not confirmed through direct observation. Scientists initially wanted to observe this particular quasar more closely because of its unique features among thousands of low-resolution spectra, which are like fingerprints for distant celestial objects, offering clues about composition, temperature and activity within them. 'It's really (like) finding a needle in a haystack,' Balashev said. However, the light from quasars is so powerful that it often outshines their own host galaxies, making it difficult to observe other galaxies close by, according to Noterdaeme, the study's co-lead author. Highly dynamic, luminous quasars are rare, according to NASA. Only about 1,000 of these objects are known to exist in the early days of the universe, Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, previously told CNN via email. 'At first, we just knew there was some molecular gas between the (attacking galaxy's) quasar and us. It's only after, when we started to look with bigger telescopes, that we detected there were actually two galaxies,' Noterdaeme said. While the dueling pair appears to be overlapping in the low-resolution spectra, the high-resolution imaging capabilities of ALMA revealed the galaxies are actually separated by thousands of light-years. Using the Very Large Telescope, the researchers were able to study the density and distance of the gas affected by the quasar's radiation. Since the light from these objects came from billions of light-years away in the early universe, it's possible the two galaxies have already merged by now, but there is no way to be sure, Balashev said. Scientists believe quasars and galaxy mergers used to be far more common earlier in the universe's lifetime, said Dong-Woo Kim, an astrophysicist with the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who was not involved in the research. Galaxies merge when they are pulled toward each other by gravity, and the universe used to be more densely packed together. Over time, the universe has expanded, and more galaxies have combined into larger ones, Kim said. Noterdaeme said that 10 billion years ago was an interesting time in the universe, adding that astronomers call this period when stars formed at a rapid rate the 'noon of the universe.' Though less frequent, galaxy mergers are still happening all the time, Kim said. Even our own Milky Way is expected to merge with the Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years, but the study team isn't certain yet whether the 'cosmic joust' phenomenon is a common feature when two galaxies collide and form a larger one. 'It's an exciting field to study,' Kim said. 'Research like this can teach us more about the birth of new galaxies and observe how they evolve over time.'
CNN
23-05-2025
- Science
- CNN
‘Cosmic joust': Astronomers catch first sight of two dueling galaxies
(CNN) — Astronomers have for the first time spotted two galaxies in the throes of a deep-space 'duel.' Using combined observations from ground-based telescopes over nearly four years, the researchers saw the distant galactic neighbors charging toward each other at more than 1.1 million miles per hour (1.8 million kilometers per hour). One repeatedly wielded its intense beams of radiation at the other, dispersing gas clouds and weakening its opponent's ability to form new stars. 'That's why we call it a 'cosmic joust,'' said Pasquier Noterdaeme, a researcher for the Paris Institute of Astrophysics and the French-Chilean Laboratory for Astronomy in Chile who was part of the team that made the discovery. What Noterdaeme and his colleagues spied was a distant snapshot of the two galaxies in the process of merging into one large galaxy 11 billion light-years away. The findings, described in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, provide a rare look into earlier times in the universe, when star formation and galaxy mergers were more common. Working with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the researchers found that the 'attacking' galaxy's piercing radiation comes from within its bright core, a quasar, powered by a supermassive black hole. The intense gravitational influence of a black hole draws matter toward it in such an energetic way that dust and gas heat up to millions of degrees and become luminous, according to NASA. These luminous materials spiral around the black hole before entering, forming what's called an 'accretion disk,' and jets of energetic matter beam out away from the center. Each blast of the quasar's ultraviolet waves are about a thousand times stronger than the radiation of our Milky Way, causing hydrogen molecules from some of the 'victim' galaxy's star-forming nurseries to split and disperse, according to the study. Stars form when large clumps of gas and dust reach a critical mass and collapse under their own gravity. However, researchers observed that after being dispersed by the radiation, the clouds were not dense or large enough to create new stars. As additional material from the victim galaxy is drawn within reach of the supermassive black hole, it fuels the quasar with more energy. Quasars have been known to essentially 'switch off' from time to time, said study coauthor Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, which could give molecular clouds the opportunity to reform. 'It's really the first time that we can see the radiative effect of a quasar on the molecular gas of a nearby galaxy,' Balashev said. Until now, this effect had only been theorized but not confirmed through direct observation. Scientists initially wanted to observe this particular quasar more closely because of its unique features among thousands of low-resolution spectra, which are like fingerprints for distant celestial objects, offering clues about composition, temperature and activity within them. 'It's really (like) finding a needle in a haystack,' Balashev said. However, the light from quasars is so powerful that it often outshines their own host galaxies, making it difficult to observe other galaxies close by, according to Noterdaeme, the study's co-lead author. Highly dynamic, luminous quasars are rare, according to NASA. Only about 1,000 of these objects are known to exist in the early days of the universe, Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, previously told CNN via email. 'At first, we just knew there was some molecular gas between the (attacking galaxy's) quasar and us. It's only after, when we started to look with bigger telescopes, that we detected there were actually two galaxies,' Noterdaeme said. While the dueling pair appears to be overlapping in the low-resolution spectra, the high-resolution imaging capabilities of ALMA revealed the galaxies are actually separated by thousands of light-years. Using the Very Large Telescope, the researchers were able to study the density and distance of the gas affected by the quasar's radiation. Since the light from these objects came from billions of light-years away in the early universe, it's possible the two galaxies have already merged by now, but there is no way to be sure, Balashev said. Scientists believe quasars and galaxy mergers used to be far more common earlier in the universe's lifetime, said Dong-Woo Kim, an astrophysicist with the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who was not involved in the research. Galaxies merge when they are pulled toward each other by gravity, and the universe used to be more densely packed together. Over time, the universe has expanded, and more galaxies have combined into larger ones, Kim said. Noterdaeme said that 10 billion years ago was an interesting time in the universe, adding that astronomers call this period when stars formed at a rapid rate the 'noon of the universe.' Though less frequent, galaxy mergers are still happening all the time, Kim said. Even our own Milky Way is expected to merge with the Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years, but the study team isn't certain yet whether the 'cosmic joust' phenomenon is a common feature when two galaxies collide and form a larger one. 'It's an exciting field to study,' Kim said. 'Research like this can teach us more about the birth of new galaxies and observe how they evolve over time.'
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientists are baffled after spotting two galaxies entangled in a 'cosmic joust'
Scientists have been left baffled after spotting two galaxies entangled in a 'cosmic joust'. Travelling at dizzying speeds of 500 kilometres per second, these two galaxies rush towards each other, only to land a glancing blow and swing around for another attack. But scientists have spotted that one of the galaxies has an unfair advantage: a deadly 'spear of radiation'. Using its bright galactic core, known as a quasar, this unsporting galaxy fires a beam of energy powered by a supermassive black hole through its opponent's core. With each pass, more of the wounded galaxy's gas and dust are fed into the black hole, giving it even more power for the next devastating attack. Co-lead author Dr Sergei Balashev, of the Ioffe Institute in St Petersburg, Russia, says: 'Here we see for the first time the effect of a quasar's radiation directly on the internal structure of the gas in an otherwise regular galaxy.' The researchers' new observations suggest that this radiation lance disrupts clouds of gas and dust, leaving behind only the smallest and densest regions. These surviving regions are too small to produce stars of their own, meaning the wounded galaxy has far fewer stellar nurseries and young stars. Quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe, typically producing thousands of times more light than the entire Milky Way. They are formed when gas and dust fall into a supermassive black hole, spiralling around it before falling in like water around a plug hole. This gas and dust is subject to extreme gravitational and frictional forces, heating up to millions of degrees and blasting out dazzling jets of material and radiation. Because quasars require so much matter to get started, some astronomers think they only occur when galaxies merge. From the intensity of the radiation being emitted, in a paper published today in Nature, the researchers estimate that the black hole powering the quasar is around 100 million times the mass of the sun. When the beam of radiation emitted by this quasar hits the other galaxy, it has a similar impact to the ignition of a newborn star. As the blast of UV radiation hits, fields of gas surrounding the galaxy are transformed into clumps with about 10 per cent of the mass of our sun. Co-lead author Dr Pasquier Noterdaeme, of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, told MailOnline: 'The super intense UV light from the quasar is able to disrupt molecular gas in the other galaxy. 'Only very small dense clumps survive the radiation, but these are too small to sustain star formation.' Since the quasar radiation pierces the galaxy like a spear, star formation is only inhibited in the 'wounded' region - leaving the rest of the galaxy unaffected. Over billions of years, Dr Noterdaeme says these two galaxies will eventually 'merge into one'. Although quasars are extremely bright, there is still a lot scientists don't know about how they interact with other objects. This is because both quasars and galactic collisions were much more common in the distant past. That means researchers need to look very far away from Earth to find light that started its journey at an early point in the Universe's history. Even the closest observable quasars to Earth are about 600 million light years away. To observe this galactic joust, researchers used two super-powerful telescopes to capture light which has taken 11 billion years to reach Earth. Combining data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the researchers captured images from a time when the Universe was just 18 per cent of its current age. The two galaxies are so far away from Earth and so close to each other that they seemed to be one object. It's only thanks to new observations from the ALMA telescope that researchers have been able to tell them apart. This extremely detailed data has offered scientists an unprecedented look into the effects of an ongoing 'galactic battle'. In the future, the researchers would like to use even larger, more powerful telescopes to get more data about how these collisions unfold. Dr Noterdaeme says this would 'certainly allow us to push forward a deeper study of this, and other systems, to better understand the evolution of quasars and their effect on host and nearby galaxies.' WHAT IS A QUASAR? 'Quasar' is short for quasi-stellar radio source, and describes bright centres of galaxies. All galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their cores. When the inflow of gas and dust to this black hole reaches a certain level, the event can cause a 'quasar' to form - an extremely bright region as the material swirls around the black hole. They are typically 3,260 light-years across. These regions emit huge amounts of electro-magnetic radiation in their jets, and can be a trillion times brighter than the sun. But they last only 10 to 100 million years on average, making them relatively tough to spot in galaxies that are several billion years old. The rapidly-spinning disk spews jets of particles moving outward at speeds approaching that of light.
