Tag Archives: galaxy evolution explorer

NASA’s Galex Reveals the Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2013Scienceall sky survey, baerbel koribalski, barred spiral galaxy, biggest stellar system, brazil, california, catholic university, cathy horellou, Chile, claudia mendes, constellation pavo, de, dimitri gadotti, disk galaxy, duilia de mello, dwarf galaxy, eli dwek, european southern observatory, fernanda urrutia viscarra, fossil record, galactic encounter, galaxy evolution explorer, galex, goddard, gravitational interaction, greenbelt, ic 4970, institute of technology, largest, milky way galaxy, mission, NASA, ngc 6872, oliveira, onsala space observatory, pasadena, rafael eufrasio, sao paulo, space flight center, spiral arms, star formation, stellar population, Sweden, two micron, united states, university, very large telescope

PASADENA, Calif. — The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now a team of astronomers from the United States, Chile and Brazil has crowned it the largest known spiral, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, which has since been loaned to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Measuring tip-to-tip across its two outsized spiral arms, NGC 6872 spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy. (more…)

Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide

By Guest PostMay 2, 2012Sciencearmin rest, astronomer, Baltimore, billion light years, black hole, chandra, demise, Galaxy, galaxy evolution explorer, haleakala, hawaii, helium gas, johns hopkins university, milky way galaxy, NASA, pan starrs1 telescope, supermassive, suvi gezari

PASADENA, Calif. – Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, a space-based observatory, and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii were among the first to help identify the stellar remains.

Supermassive black holes, weighing millions to billions times more than the sun, lurk in the centers of most galaxies. These hefty monsters lie quietly until an unsuspecting victim, such as a star, wanders close enough to get ripped apart by their powerful gravitational clutches. (more…)