Astronomy 110 Website

Observatory / Course Archives / ASTR 110 Fall 2019 / Johnson

Andromeda Galaxy

Shown above is an image of the spiral Andromeda Galaxy. This image was captured by the Hubble Telescope in 2015. The upper left corner is modified to show an example of the galaxies appearance without light interference from nearby stars.

The Andromeda galaxy is the closest large galaxy to our own-The Milky Way. It is roughly the same size as our own galaxy. It is also a spiral galaxy, with both young and old stars located throughout it. Unlike most of our galactic neighbors, Andromeda appears to be blue shifted. In other terms, Andromeda is moving straight towards our own galactic home. According to Nasa, this collison will occur in roughly 5 billion years. This will cause both the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxies to merge and create a new-elliptical structure. Andromeda is experienced in colliding with nearby galaxies. Remenants of 'old material' from other galaxies are found in its bulge. It's estimated that our own galaxy had a nearby twin, but Andromeda collided and ate the left over dust roughly 200 million years ago.

Crab Nebula

In picture above, you can find images of the M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A Nebula. It is located in the Taurus constellation. It is more fondly known as, the Crab Nebula. It was first discovered in 1100 AD, and makes an appearance in historic Chinese fables and riddles. The image on the left side is only depicted using visible light. The image on the right shows the nebula's ultraviolet radiation as well. This gives clue that the nebula contains much more energy than we can detect with visible light alone.

This nebula was formed after a neutron star became pressurized and eventually exploded. The color of the crab nebula gives clue about the make up of this former star. The blue in the nebula shows traces of oxygen, while the green shows traces of ionized sulfer. This is combination is a unique for a nebula to emit. The blue, oxygenated parts of the nebula will occasionaly pulsate. This is due to the left over magnetic field of the neutron star. This makes the crab nebula unquie in it's composition and indeifticaiton in the night sky.

Kepler-10 c

The image above is an artistic interpretation of the Exoplanet, Kepler 10-C. This planet is located in the Kepler System. This system is only 1400 light years away from the earth. While no images have been taken of this planet, it's existence have been proven by both the radial velocity method. It was discovered in 2011.

As shown in the illustration, this planet is incredibly massive compared to earth. It has a diameter comparable to Jupiter. However, this planet is made out of rocky and metallic material. It's large diameter and heavy compostion puzzled many astronomers. It's orbital period is only 45 days. This planet is considered to be extremely cold, freezing anything that touches its thin atmosphere. This is unquie for a planet that orbits very closely to its main sequence star. Thus, its frozen atmosphere, rocky interior, and large diameter has caused astronomers to rethink current planet models, and give clues about other 'superearth' planets which may exist.