Found Them! 72 Unseen Galaxies Found Hiding in Plain Sight

[Judi Lynn]

By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | November 29, 2017 07:01am ET


Astronomers have found 72 potential galaxies hiding in plain sight inside a vast patch of the sky previously observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The discovery not only gives astronomers new targets to study, but also will aid studies of star motion and formation and other properties of old galaxies, the researchers said.

The new study was performed by the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. Astronomers discovered the newfound galaxies while measuring the distances and properties of 1,600 galaxies captured by the Hubble Space Telescope during its Ultra Deep Field survey.

The 72 newfound galaxies shine in Lyman-alpha light, which is a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light. Because the galaxies are receding from us, their wavelength was stretched from ultraviolet to visible, or near-infrared. [26 Stunning Photos from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field]

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3Mi8xMjIvb3JpZ2luYWwvdWx0cmEtZGVlcC1maWVsZC1tdXNlLmpwZz8xNTExOTE3NDYx

The European Southern Observatory's Muse instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile captured this view of galaxies in a region of sky included in the Hubble Space Telescope's Ultra Deep Field survey. Muse discovered 72 never-before-seen galaxies in the region.
Credit: ESO/MUSE HUDF Collaboration

The discoveries were made in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, which is a tiny region of the sky in the southern constellation Fornax (the Furnace). The Hubble data were originally obtained in 2004, two years after NASA space shuttle astronauts visited the space telescope to install the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and perform other needed maintenance.

More:
https://www.space.com/38925-never-before-seen-galaxies-hubble-ultra-deep-field.html?utm_source=notification

Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122854622









More images:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrTcXs6uB5amvsABWCLuLkF;_ylc=X1MDOTYwNTc0ODMEX3IDMgRiY2sDZWFlcjdmOWNnbDI5ZyUyNmIlM0Q0JTI2ZCUzRGZFVE9PSzFyWUgzS3VfNWJGaWk4THF3a19jX3JYc19ya1E2azM1dGQ0N2NwM1EtLSUyNnMlM0RkayUyNmklM0Q2YjlEbFJub3NFY25ERDNpMDFuSgRmcgMEZ3ByaWQDR1FSNXZNWjdSekdiZkw3WXRhTU9sQQRtdGVzdGlkA251bGwEbl9zdWdnAzEEb3JpZ2luA2ltYWdlcy5zZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDBHFzdHJsAzI2BHF1ZXJ5A3ZlcnkgbGFyZ2UgdGVsZXNjb3BlIGNoaWxlBHRfc3RtcAMxNTExOTYyNjk2BHZ0ZXN0aWQDQjQyNjE-?gprid=GQR5vMZ7RzGbfL7YtaMOlA&pvid=DI8GiDEwLjLlO2d6WQqJMBEQMjYwMgAAAAA.lkns&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&p=very+large+telescope+chile&ei=UTF-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp#id=4&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Ff%2Ff0%2FMoonset_over_ESO%2527s_Very_Large_Telescope.jpg&action=close

[Orange Free State]

1. There may be several more galaxies hidden.....

....under a certain someone’s combover.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Maybe people could mine them to find brain material needed enough to fill the vacuum under there! nt

[PJMcK]

3. The Universe is huge and old

There are so many things about the Universe that we still don't know. The ingenuity and curiosity these scientists employ are brilliant.

I'll paraphrase Lawrence Krauss: "The universe is very big and really old so rare events happen all of the time." There are an estimated 100-200 billion galaxies, each made of of millions of stars. The numbers are staggering and the variety of creation is incomprehensible on a human scale. There is so much out there to find!

Speaking of Krauss, he wrote a couple of books about the physics of the Star Trek universe. In one passage, he points out that all* of the Star Trek stories take place in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even the writers of the shows and movies knew that the Enterprise couldn't traverse inter-galactic space within human lifetimes. That's how big Space is!

Anyway, that's way off-topic. The observatories in the pictures you provided, Judi Lynn, are beautiful. Those machines are like modern cathedrals to Science and Knowledge. They will provide so much information for studying the Universe


*I think Kirk, in the original series, somehow took the Enterprise back to just after the Big Bang but that story still focused on events in the Milky Way.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Speaking of Star Trek...

I'm not sure that worm hole theory had advanced beyond the blackboard when Gene Roddenberry first penned those scripts. Instead, he resorted to a superpowered antimatter reactor for propulsion. Woulda been nice if the Enterprise coulda escaped its home galaxy.

[PJMcK]

5. Worm holes in Star Trek

Do the worm holes in Star Trek connect different galaxies? I don't recall that but Deep Space 9 is my least favorite Trek series so I don't know as much about it.

As far as escaping the Milky Way, Mr. Roddenberry, his successors and the writers have certainly found enough to write about within our own galaxy!

By the way, whatever happened to the Andorians? They were in the original series and also in Star Trek: Enterprise. But I don't think they ever turn up again, (but i could be wrong).

[Judi Lynn]

6. Had to refresh my memory. I don't remember seeing them again.

Hope someone will know.

[PJMcK]

7. Memory Alpha

This is the unofficial Star Trek fansite:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Main

It's kind of the Everything-About-Star Trek wiki.

A fast search showed that most of the Andorian stories are from Enterprise. They appear in the original series and also in the animated series. They are obliquely referenced in Voyager, Deep Space 9, The Next Generaton and in The Final Frontier movie but they don't appear.

Too bad they didn't make more use of them. They were an interesting race and Commander Shran was a compelling character.

Too much Trekiness!

[Judi Lynn]

8. Great to see the link. Should be fun to spend time there, for sure. Thanks for posting it. n/t

[PJMcK]

9. You're welcome

After all of the great science posts you shared, Memory Alpha seems like an after-thought!