Something Is Killing Galaxies in Extreme Regions of the Universe

[Judi Lynn]

.By Toby Brown September 20, 2019

In the most extreme regions of the universe, galaxies are being killed. Their star formation is being shut down and astronomers want to know why.

The first ever Canadian-led large project on one of the world’s leading telescopes is hoping to do just that. The new program, called the Virgo Environment Traced in Carbon Monoxide survey (VERTICO), is investigating, in brilliant detail, how galaxies are killed by their environment.

As VERTICO’s principal investigator, I lead a team of 30 experts that are using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to map the molecular hydrogen gas, the fuel from which new stars are made, at high resolution across 51 galaxies in our nearest galaxy cluster, called the Virgo Cluster.

Commissioned in 2013 at a cost of US$1.4 billion, ALMA is an array of connected radio dishes at an altitude of 5,000 metres in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is an international partnership between Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Chile. The largest ground-based astronomical project in existence, ALMA is the most advanced millimetre wavelength telescope ever built and ideal for studying the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form, which cannot be seen using visible light.

More:
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2019/09/20/something_is_killing_galaxies_in_extreme_regions_of_the_universe_111112.html

[wcmagumba]

1. This article reminded me...

of a 1953 short story penned by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, "The Nine Billion Names of God".
Well worth reading.

"overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God

[SWBTATTReg]

2. One of my most favorite Arthur C. Clark stories. My paperback copy is definitely worn out! NT

[SCantiGOP]

6. Remember that well

I think I read just about everything he wrote, but I do remember this. They had a futuristic device that sounded almost magical - called a computer.

[Boomer]

3. Calling Dr. Who.... (n/t)

[htuttle]

4. Thanos?

[qazplm135]

5. nah,

he'd just kill half the stars at once.

Everything in balance.

I'm thinking more Galactus...sure, he usually eats planets, but maybe he got extra hungry.

[SCantiGOP]

7. This is exactly why we need

SPACE FORCE !!!