Latest news with #M32
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Gorgeous deep space photo captures the Andromeda Galaxy surrounded by glowing gas
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical "Skyscapes" that connect both Earth and the night sky. Five years after my first attempt to capture the Andromeda Galaxy surrounded by faint hydrogen alpha (Ha) clouds taken with a DSLR camera back in 2020, and inspired by the recent discovery by Strottner-Drechsler-Sainty of the oxygen-III (OIII) emission arc, I decided to get back to M31 and try my luck. Spanning approximately 220,000 light-years across, the Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which also contains the Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. I decided to present my final view of M31 in a little different way, framing with a rotation that could help direct our attention to the most interesting parts of the immersive scene, keeping in mind to preserve the natural level of brightness of the core. The image features a long integration of around 80 hours in HaOIII emission using a dual band filter, to show the colorful field of faint glowing ionized hydrogen gas where the galaxy seems to be immersed in. Despite these faint clouds, all the galaxy shape has a strong emission visible with Ha 3nm filter. The large-scale cloud formations visible in the foreground belong to our own Milky Way galaxy, as do the several distinct colorful stars which surround the diffuse spiral shape of M31. While its spiral arms stand out in visible light, the arms look like rings when viewed in ultraviolet light. Being sites of intense star formation, the rings have been interpreted as evidence that Andromeda collided with its smaller neighboring elliptical galaxy M32 more than 200 million years ago. RELATED STORIES: — Geminid meteor shower fills the sky with 'shooting stars' in spectacular time-lapse photos — Astrophotographer captures a 'Great Dragon' in the Pelican Nebula (photo) — Stunning space photo captures bright blue shock wave around double star system Even with all my efforts and challenges along the way, 80 hours where not enough to achieve the demanding level of good data needed for revealing the faint OIII arc, specially difficult in One Shot Color (OSC) cameras, so after analyzing the data with the help of my experienced friend Yann Saint, I took the decision of not include the OIII data on the arc for being insufficient to reveal the proper expected shape and detail. Still, the OIII signal included and visible in the arms of M31 could reveal dozens of planetary nebulas. I hope you enjoy my result. The image was captured from Dark Sky Alqueva Observatory, in Cumeada, Portugal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and if you want to support my work as an independent artist, you can buy one of my images as a print and a piece of art or a wall decor for your sweet home! Explore the size options and different types available on my Print gallery. Meanwhile, you can sign-up my newsletter to get early access of future releases.
Express Tribune
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Taliban sold 500,000 US weapons to terrorist groups: BBC report
Listen to article A recent report by a Britain's public broadcaster, the BBC, has stated that the Taliban have sold or smuggled approximately 500,000 American-made weapons to terrorist groups since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. These weapons—left behind by US forces—have since gone missing and are now allegedly in the hands of terrorist groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda, the report added. Citing a United Nations report, the outlet noted that the Taliban themselves have admitted being unable to account for nearly half of the US-supplied military equipment. The UN report further alleges that Taliban leadership allowed local commanders to retain up to 20% of the US weaponry, which contributed to widespread black market sales. A local journalist in Kandahar confirmed that for at least a year after the Taliban's return to power, American arms were openly traded in markets before the transactions shifted underground. The accusations were denied by the Taliban's deputy spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, who insisted that all weapons are secure and dismissed the claims of arms smuggling or sales as baseless propaganda. The report also referenced the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which estimated that a large number of weapons, ammo and equipment including around 250,000 firearms and 18,000 night-vision devices were left behind—an arsenal comparable to that of the US Marine Corps. US President Donald Trump has previously stated that arms and equipment worth $85 billion were left behind in Afghanistan. The potential redistribution of these arms to hostile actors could further destabilise an already volatile region and complicate counterterrorism efforts globally. While the Taliban continue to deny the allegations, international observers have called for stricter monitoring of arms flows in post-conflict Afghanistan to prevent misuse and proliferation. Pakistan's security agencies have previously highlighted that US-origin weapons, smuggled from Afghanistan, were being used in recent terror attacks across the country. Officials cited multiple recoveries of advanced American arms during operations and attacks, including M32 grenade launchers, M-16/A4 rifles, M-4 carbines, night vision gear, and hand grenades. These weapons were found during incidents such as the BLA attack on a naval base in Turbat, an attempted assault on the Gwadar Port Authority, and raids in North Waziristan, Zhob, Bajaur, and Mir Ali. Security sources link the weapons to stockpiles left behind in Afghanistan, warning of increased militant capabilities inside Pakistan. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has called the spread of these weapons a serious threat to national security. Earlier this week a Washington Post investigation had also found that terrorists operating in Pakistan, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were increasingly using advanced US-made weapons left behind after the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, . Pakistani officials had confirmed that US-origin M16 rifles were used in the March 11 bombing of the Jaffar Express. Serial numbers on two recovered rifles were traced back to US military stockpiles.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'This doesn't appear in computer simulations': Hubble maps chaotic history of Andromeda galaxy, and it's nothing like scientists expected
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An ambitious new survey by the Hubble Space Telescope provides the first-ever bird's-eye view of all known dwarf galaxies orbiting the Andromeda galaxy. The results reveal that over billions of years, Andromeda and its family of dwarf galaxies have experienced markedly chaotic interactions — like a game of bumper cars — compared with the relatively placid evolution of the galaxies circling the Milky Way. The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, demonstrate that we may not be able to extrapolate information about other galaxies from our understanding of our own galaxy, the study authors said. "There's always been concerns about whether what we are learning in the Milky Way applies more broadly to other galaxies," study co-author Daniel Weisz, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement. "Our work has shown that low-mass galaxies in other ecosystems have followed different evolutionary paths than what we know from the Milky Way satellite galaxies." At about 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda is the closest major galaxy to our own, and getting closer; Andromeda and the Milky Way are predicted to collide and merge in about 5 billion years time. To the naked eye, it appears as a faint, spindle-shaped object that covers about the same amount of sky as the full moon. What isn't visible without powerful telescopes and is not well studied is the swarm of three dozen smaller galaxies scattered around Andromeda, like bees around a hive. Related: The Andromeda Galaxy glows rosy red in gorgeous new Hubble Telescope image Starting in late 2019, Hubble spent two years cataloging images — as well as measurements of the locations and motions — of three dozen galaxies swirling up to 1.63 million light-years from Andromeda. These data provided Weisz and his team the first comprehensive 3D map of our galactic neighbor's ecosystem. Using this information, the researchers studied the processes that drove the evolution of these dwarf galaxies over nearly 14 billion years of cosmic time. "Everything scattered in the Andromeda system is very asymmetric and perturbed," Weisz, principal investigator of this Hubble program, said in the statement. "It does appear that something significant happened not too long ago." That something, the researchers posit, was a collision between Andromeda and a large galaxy a few billion years ago. The possible culprit could be Messier 32, a satellite galaxy of Andromeda and its brightest companion. Astronomers suspect that M32, which is visible to Andromeda's bottom left, is the remnant core from the merger. Analysis of the Hubble observations also revealed a unique population of galaxies around Andromeda that has not been observed around the Milky Way, according to the new study. This group began forming most of its stars early on and continued to do so at extremely low rates and for much longer than astronomers would expect. Given the intense gravitational pull of Andromeda, these galaxies should have been stripped of their star-forming gas long ago, similar to what is observed around the Milky Way. "This doesn't appear in computer simulations," study lead author Alessandro Savino, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in the same statement. "No one knows what to make of that so far." The survey also revealed that half of Andromeda's dwarf galaxies orbit in a unique, flat plane, all moving in the same direction — a configuration not observed around other galaxies, including our own. RELATED STORIES —Unproven Einstein theory of 'gravitational memory' may be real after all, new study hints —Fast radio burst traced to the outskirts of an ancient 'graveyard' galaxy — and the cause remains a mystery —Euclid telescope spots rare 'Einstein ring' hiding near Earth — and an ancient, unnamed galaxy behind it "That's weird," Weisz said in the statement. "It was actually a total surprise to find the satellites in that configuration and we still don't fully understand why they appear that way." The galaxies assembled into the "Great Plane of Andromeda" don't exhibit distinguishable traits, such as patterns in star formation. This suggests the plane is not a physically distinct structure but rather a serendipitous configuration whose origins are not yet fully understood, the researchers say. "There is a lot of diversity that needs to be explained in the Andromeda satellite system," Weisz said in the statement. "The way things come together matters a lot in understanding this galaxy's history."
