Scientists Discover Huge 'Extragalactic Structure' in Hidden Region of Space (vice.com) 30
Scientists have discovered a huge "extragalactic structure" hidden behind the Milky Way in a mysterious area of the sky known as the "zone of avoidance" because it is obscured by our own galaxy's opaque bulge, according to a new preprint study. Motherboard reports: The discovery of the structure, which appears to be a large galaxy cluster, helps to fill in this shadowy part of our cosmic map, which may as well be labeled "here be space dragons" because it is so unclear what exists there. The star stuff that makes up our galaxy, the Milky Way, is distributed inside a thin plane that orbits around a central bulge that contains a supermassive black hole. The galactic plane and bulge are packed with stars, dust, and gas that block our view of whatever is on the other side. Though scientists have been able to use different wavelengths to peer through the zone of avoidance (ZoA), a region that obscures 10 to 20 percent of the sky, most of this region still remains out of view.
Now, a team led by Daniela Galdeano, an astronomer at the National University of San Juan in Argentina, report the discovery of "a new galaxy cluster, VVVGCl-B J181435-381432, behind the Milky Way bulge," which helps to complete "the picture of the large scale structure in this still little explored area of the sky," according to a study posted this week on the preprint server arxiv. [...] Galdeano and her colleagues were able to spot this cluster within the ZoA using the VVV Survey, a project that scans the Milky Way bulge at infrared wavelengths using the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in Paranal, Chile. Whereas the galactic plane blocks out almost all visible light in the zone, longer wavelengths of light, including in the infrared band, are able to travel through the Milky Way's haze to reach telescopes on Earth.
To zoom in on the tantalizing region, the researchers used a near-infrared instrument called FLAMINGOS-2, which is on the Gemini South telescope in Chile, to identify measurements called "redshifts" that can be used to estimate the distance and velocities of its objects in space. The results exposed new details about five galaxies some three billion light years away, which the researchers think are part of a much bigger cluster. The team estimated that the cluster contains about 58 galaxies, but it will take more observations to be sure of its mass and contents.
Now, a team led by Daniela Galdeano, an astronomer at the National University of San Juan in Argentina, report the discovery of "a new galaxy cluster, VVVGCl-B J181435-381432, behind the Milky Way bulge," which helps to complete "the picture of the large scale structure in this still little explored area of the sky," according to a study posted this week on the preprint server arxiv. [...] Galdeano and her colleagues were able to spot this cluster within the ZoA using the VVV Survey, a project that scans the Milky Way bulge at infrared wavelengths using the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in Paranal, Chile. Whereas the galactic plane blocks out almost all visible light in the zone, longer wavelengths of light, including in the infrared band, are able to travel through the Milky Way's haze to reach telescopes on Earth.
To zoom in on the tantalizing region, the researchers used a near-infrared instrument called FLAMINGOS-2, which is on the Gemini South telescope in Chile, to identify measurements called "redshifts" that can be used to estimate the distance and velocities of its objects in space. The results exposed new details about five galaxies some three billion light years away, which the researchers think are part of a much bigger cluster. The team estimated that the cluster contains about 58 galaxies, but it will take more observations to be sure of its mass and contents.
Could it be the Flying Spaghetti Monster? (Score:4, Insightful)
Disappointing (Score:3)
It's never aliens. Ever.
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..unti it is? :P
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that is what they want us to think!! Damn MiB agents!!
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Size matters
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Hide your bulge dammit!
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Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in Paranal, Chile.
It doesn't say electron microscope.
It also says visible
Re: A huge thing in space? (Score:2)
The Zone of Avoidance.
Ringworld here we come (Score:2)
Somebody call Louis Wu.
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wu? ;)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I know, who.:-)
I read tfa (Score:5, Interesting)
Question (Score:2)
How soon to the 'big bang' have they redshifted?
Just an armchair scientist but I was thinking the big bang shockwave would have to pass through some gaseous space in order to cause the redshift, so at some point maybe there isn't anything else further away and we'll have seen our reddest redshift?
Re:Question (Score:4, Interesting)
How soon to the 'big bang' have they redshifted?
The article posted to arXiv shows spectra with redshifts around z =0.225. That's about the distance of nearer quasars, so not particularly nearby: for comparison, the Virgo Cluster is 0.004, and the Coma Cluster 0.02. The cosmic microwave background has a redshift of z=1100, and that was several hundred thousand years after the big bang. That's also the point where the universe became transparent, so you're never measuring a larger redshift than that.
Just an armchair scientist but I was thinking the big bang shockwave would have to pass through some gaseous space in order to cause the redshift, so at some point maybe there isn't anything else further away and we'll have seen our reddest redshift?
There's not a big bang shockwave. One of the biggest misconceptions about the big bang is that there was some explosion that expanded out into empty space. What it really is that the whole universe was once very tiny, and space has been stretching out ever since, cooling as volume expands. It's the stretching of space that causes cosmological redshift. So, in the time it's taken light from the galaxies in question to reach us, space has stretched by 22%, making the light waves 22% longer in wavelength.
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Thanks for the analysis.
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Ditto
We can simply wait for a better view ... (Score:5, Informative)
The Milky Way rotates, so we can simply wait until our solar system rotates to the other side for a better view. It'll only take about 112 million years to go 1/2 way around.
From How long to orbit Milky Way’s center? [earthsky.org]
Nice headline. (Score:1)
They found ... (Score:3)
And 10mm sockets.
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And mismatched socks.
Star Trek Discovery (Score:2)
Very timely. Cue the DMA in 3... 2...
Zone of Avoidance (Score:2)
Scientists have discovered a huge "extragalactic structure" hidden behind the Milky Way in a mysterious area of the sky known as the "zone of avoidance" ...
It's just a name, like the Death Zone and the Zone of No Return. All the zones have names like that in the Galaxy of Terror.