Podcaster: Richard Drumm
Title: Space Scoop: Sloshing Around in Space Like a Soda!
Organization:365 Days Of Astronomy
Link : astrosphere.org ; http://unawe.org/kids/unawe1722/
Description: Space scoop, news for children.
Story about galaxy cluster Abell 2052.
Bio: Richard Drumm is President of the Charlottesville Astronomical Society and President of 3D – Drumm Digital Design, a video production company with clients such as Kodak, Xerox and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. He was an observer with the UVa Parallax Program at McCormick Observatory in 1981 & 1982. He has found that his greatest passion in life is public outreach astronomy and he pursues it at every opportunity.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2016, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
This is the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast. Today we bring you a new episode in our Space Scoop series. This show is produced in collaboration with Universe Awareness, a program that strives to inspire every child with our wonderful cosmos.
Sloshing Around in Space Like a Soda!
Like a soda drink splashing around, or wine in a wine glass, huge clouds of hot gas are sloshing back and forth in a picture taken back in 2011 by the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope.
Here’s the link to the image: http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2011/a2052/
The picture shows a collection of galaxies, which is known as galaxy cluster Abell 2052. It’s in the constellation Serpens Caput, which is the serpent’s head. It’s not nearby, it’s 480 million light years away!
The gold bits in the image are the individual galaxies, while the big blue parts of the image show hot gas, which is about 30 million degrees Celsius!
The big spiral of hot gas was created when a small Galaxy Cluster smashed into a larger one in the center of the photo. Now when I say “big spiral” I really mean BIG! It’s almost 1 million light years across!
Collisions like this in space don’t happen in one fell swoop.
Instead, the smaller galaxy cluster danced back and forth, approaching the large Galaxy Cluster a little off center, and then going past it, before coming back again. The off centered collision is the reason the hot gas is in a spiral pattern.
Now remember, this is 2 galaxy clusters interacting, not 2 galaxies, 2 clusters of galaxies. This is a big deal!
It did this several times, each time staying a little bit closer, until it eventually fell in with the large central elliptical galaxy.
In the meantime, this dancing around played havoc with the hot gas in the central Galaxy Cluster. As the smaller Galaxy Cluster came closer, the hot gas of the central Galaxy Cluster was attracted to it by good old gravity.
Then, after the smaller Galaxy Cluster passed by the central one, the direction that the gas was attracted to reversed and it travelled back towards the centre. Basically, the gas moved back and forth, through the galaxy cluster’s central gravity well, similar to wine sloshing around a wine glass!
The curved bottom of a wine glass is a good proxy for the cluster’s gravity well. You can put wine or soda in it, doesn’t matter which! The liquid sloshes up one side of the glass, then drops back down to the center, only to slosh up the opposite side.
Eventually it’ll settle down in the center.
Hey, Here’s A Cool Fact:
This interaction is somewhat similar, though much larger, than what will happen in 6 or so billion years when the Andromeda Galaxy will collide with our Milky Way. The other galaxy will pass right through us without a single star hitting another star.
There is gas between the stars in both galaxies, though, and that gas will collide and compress, and new stars will be born by the thousands! Eventually the 2 galaxies will settle down into a new type of galaxy. An elliptical galaxy.
Gone will be the nice spiral shape that we’ve become accustomed to.
Oh well. What can you do?
I know!
You can keep listening to the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
=====================
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. This year we will celebrate more discoveries and stories from the universe. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks