A Strange Ring Galaxy

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by wet1, Sep 21, 2002.

  1. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Hoag's Object: A Strange Ring Galaxy
    Credit: R. Lucas (STScI/AURA), Hubble Heritage Team, NASA

    Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Art Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost completely dark. How Hoag's Object formed remains unknown, although similar objects have now been identified and collectively labeled as a form of ring galaxy. Genesis hypotheses include a galaxy collision billions of years ago and perturbative gravitational interactions involving an unusually shaped core. The above photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in July 2001 reveals unprecedented details of Hoag's Object and may yield a better understanding. Hoag's Object spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the constellation of Serpens. Coincidentally, visible in the gap (at about one o'clock) is yet another ring galaxy that likely lies far in the distance.
     
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  3. grazzhoppa yawwn Valued Senior Member

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    these could be the wormholes every sci-fi writer and enthusiast was rambling about! The blue one in the foreground is to the future and the redder one in the background is to the past! God speed, space traveler!
     
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  5. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    Woah, thats pretty freaky.

    You're on a roll today Wet1, good work

    Do you know if the outer ring orbits the inner circle?
     
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  7. Enqrypzion Registered Senior Member

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    stupid idea that isn't the answer

    might it be that it is just an ordinary spiral galaxy, with a (extremely huge) black hole in it or in front of it? would settle for the exact circular shape...

    edit:typo
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2002
  8. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    Actually, the gravity of the central part would explain the circular shape as it appears to have a higher density

    If there was a black hole, we wouldn't be able to see central part, and I don't think that a black hole could actually get that big

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  9. Enqrypzion Registered Senior Member

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    answering with more stupid ideas

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    that central part may be a tachyon jet pointed at us, redshifted by the black hole to visible frequencies..

    hah i'll stop blabbing now

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  10. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    You should really. Next you'll be saying 'Its a giraffe head that lives in a distant sun'

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  11. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    I don't think it can be a black hole, because the image of the other galaxy in the background is not only similar but it doesn't appear to have had its light bent.
     
  12. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    Bloody good point. I missed that one
     
  13. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    Is it possible for someone to actually simulate there being a black hole in the center, and then have them move the hole out of the way?? Maybe a wierd question, but I'm thinking that possibly (space is a big place, after all) the other galaxy could be some kind of reflection from a mini black hole next to the larger one, if there is in fact one there. Croicky I dunno...just speculating, I guess.

    Now I'm really not sure if there's a hole in the center or not...DAMNIT.
     
  14. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    How can you get a reflection from something that absorbs all light?

    Reflection is just light boncing off something
     
  15. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    A reflection of a reflection, like I said I'm not sure. Like when you hold up one mirror to another, only I think in this case one mirror is smaller and at an angle. Or it isn't there at all.
     
  16. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    One of the ideas that come to mind is that in order to have a perfect ring, you must have an equally perfect explosion with outward expansion the same in all directions. It is hard to envision that a galactic collision would leave such a delicate and symetrical structure in place as a result. Or that you could come to such a figure where all forces seem to balance and leave this object in place.

    I wonder how it would be to actually live in such a galaxy and how the sights would be there. Here, the central mass of the Milky Way blocks most visible light and we have to look with radio astromony to detect any of the objects that exist within the core. There, if you resided within the inner area of the ring, the core should be seen easily.
     
  17. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    Maybe the inner center is actually just a massive cloud of dirt. Could be a forming galaxy maybe?
     
  18. kmguru Staff Member

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    Two possibilities, I can think of:

    1. The central core is a massive blackhole that ate up the matter surrounding it forming a perfect circle. At the same time, we happen to have a separate bright object (pulsar or whatever) ahead of it to replace the empty void in the picture.

    2. Same blackhole but this time, the hole is so massive that it is spewing out energy (photons?) from its axis. No one knows what happens when a black hole gets too big. The outer circle could be the result of the spin rate and the influence of the black hole (high gravity).

    So, what the professionals say?
     
  19. John MacNeil Registered Senior Member

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    The bright core at the center of the big ring is not a collection of stars, it is a giant mega-star. The ring consists of galaxies, not indivdual stars. You can tell by the different colors and elliptical shapes. Those type of megastars are often misinterpreted as 'strange galaxies' and are actualy commonly found at the center of dense concentrations of galaxies. They are a constuct that is the next step up from galaxies around which galaxies orbit, the way planets orbit a star or star systems orbit a galactic core. That one just happens to be a near perfect frontal view which enables us to clearly see it's organization.
     
  20. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    So your saying thats what a universe could look like?
     
  21. Adam §Þ@ç€ MØnk€¥ Registered Senior Member

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    Now that is a truly remarkable galaxy. Very weird.
     
  22. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    Uhh...I'm not so sure about that one. There may be galaxies in the background, but I don't think they're in the ring. I think astronomers would find it much easier to guage this thing's size if it was as big as you were talking about.
     
  23. kmguru Staff Member

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    I dont think so. The picture could be a hoax too....to fool the amateurs.

    I think it is a hoax. The work of a Photoshop....or Kai...
     

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