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Speeding Stars Baffle Scientists

By Clara Moskowitz
,
Space.com
posted: 47 MINUTES AGO
comments: 119
filed under: Science News
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Space.com
(Aug. 5) - Stars in a distant galaxy move at stunning speeds — greater than 1 million mph, astronomers have revealed.
These hyperactive stars move at about twice the speed of our sun through the Milky Way, because their host galaxy is very massive, yet strangely compact. The scene, which has theorists baffled, is 11 billion light-years away. It is the first time motions of individual stars have been measured in a galaxy so distant.
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This illustration compares the size of the Milky Way to that of a dense, compact galaxy in the early universe.
ESA / NASA

Puzzled scientists are hoping to learn more about some hyperactive stars that are traveling faster than 1 million mph in a massive -- yet strangely compact -- galaxy about 11 billion light-years away.

While the stars' swiftness is notable, stars in other galaxies have been observed to travel at similarly high speeds. In those situations, it was usually because they were interlopers from outside, or circling close to a black hole.
But in this case, the stars' high velocities help astronomers confirm that the galaxy they belong to really is as massive as earlier data suggested.
Bizarre, indeed
The compact nature of this and similar galaxies in the faraway early universe is puzzling to scientists, who don't yet understand why some young, massive galaxies are about five times smaller than their counterparts today.
"A lot of people were thinking we had overestimated these masses in the past," said Yale University astronomer Pieter van Dokkum, leader of the new study. "But this confirms they are extremely massive for their size. These galaxies are indeed as bizarre as we thought they were."
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Scientists used the new velocity measurements, conducted with the Gemini South telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope, to test the mass of a galaxy identified as 1255-0. The same way that the sun's gravity determines the orbiting speed of the Earth, the galaxy's gravity, and thus its mass, determines the velocities of the stars inside it.
The researchers found that indeed, the galaxy is exceptionally dense.
Given its distance of 11 billion light-years, galaxy 1255-0 is seen as it existed 11 billion years ago, less than 3 billion years after the theoretical Big Bang. Among other galaxies we can observe from this time period, about 30 to 40 percent are compact like this one. But in the modern, nearby universe, astronomers don't find anything similar.
Something wrong?
Somehow, high-mass galaxies from the young universe grow in size but not in mass – they spread out but maintain their overall heft – to become the high-mass galaxies we see today.
"It's a bit of a puzzle," van Dokkum told SPACE.com. "We think these galaxies must grow through collisions with other galaxies. The weird thing is that these mergers must lead to galaxies that are larger in size but not much more massive. We need a mechanism that grows them in size but not in mass."
So far, such a mechanism is elusive, but astronomers have some ideas. Perhaps these galaxies expand their girth by merging with many small, low-mass galaxies. Or maybe these galaxies eventually become the dense central regions of even larger galaxies.
"It could also still be that we are doing something wrong," van Dokkum said. "But I think at the moment you could say that the ball is somewhat in the court of the theorists. Hopefully they can come up with some kind of explanation that we can test further."
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Amazing Space Images
This image taken by NASA with an infrared telescope in Hawaii shows a large impact on Jupiter's south polar region early Monday. Astronomers say Jupiter was apparently struck by an object, possibly a comet. It happened on the 15th anniversary of another comet strike.
JPL / NASA / AP
JPL / NASA / AP
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© Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved.
2009-08-06 11:37:45
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aiveschen011

04:55 PMAug 06 2009

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Sixeyess4dinner

04:54 PMAug 06 2009

Man has walked on the moon, we have satellites orbiting the Earth, we have probes in the far reaches of our solar system and mechanical crawlers on Mars. We have done all of this with our current understanding of gravity, yet we don't even know what 'causes' mass. There is a theoretical Higgs boson particle, which is an attempt to unlock this mystery. The LHC will attempt to capture a trail of the Higgs boson particle, if it exists. Look at what we have accomplished without knowing the secret(s) of mass, what we would will be able to (when the secret is unlocked) is probably unimaginable at this time. In the interim, there will be (as always) the three blind mice, screaming blasphemy but standing 'at the ready' to reap the benefits............

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Oregonlight

04:51 PMAug 06 2009

kcdgenius, where did yo get your information from? the top of your head? Please provide references, if indeed what you say is true. As to evidence that "religion" is not all fiction, I give you the Dead Sea Scrolls, which confirm almost word for word the facts of the Bible, among other discoveries.

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GarthDvoigt

04:45 PMAug 06 2009

<<he was talking about our morning and evening when he was creating everything on the earth>>Uh Huh. Which Time zone exactly?

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Sixeyess4dinner

04:42 PMAug 06 2009

""But I think at the moment you could say that the ball is somewhat in the court of the theorists. Hopefully they can come up with some kind of explanation that we can test further."" <------ That's what it's all about. We see it, we don't understand it and we can't explain it. So the hypotheses come pouring in, and are tested and either refined or discarded according to empirical evidence. Hence, the scientific process. Surviving scrutiny, it may become a theory. This is in contrast to saying "God did it, look no further" and/or creating a theological barrier with reprisal for being inquisitive. Are we still going to the Lake of Fire for discovering that germs were the cause of deaths attributed to god's will? Are we still going to hell for harnessing electricity..power from the 'domain of god?' It would seem that the ire drawn from the bible thumpers (many) is due to their perception that the more we learn, the less magical powers and unseen forces their god has..........

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GarthDvoigt

04:41 PMAug 06 2009

Aeolianite, gravity isn't a product of Earth's rotation. Gravity is a component of Earth's mass. I think you're thinking about Centrifugal or Centripedal forces generated by spinning. You could induce a sort of artificial gravity by spinning a cyclinder or a torus which was hollow. The above mentioned forces would be apparent on the inside surface of either object.

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Kcdgenius

04:35 PMAug 06 2009

WestBridgeFilm SAYS:"..Why is it religious people always try to seperate God & Science, as if they are seperate things?..." Religion and mythology arose out of a need for ancient humans to explain the unknown. the person that came up with the most popular "thus sayeth the lord" stories had the most respect and control. Science is not a bunch of people sitting around pulled kwrap out of their butts, and then trying to pass it off as divine revelation. That is the difference between science and religion. There is no evidence to support any religious claims, and there is indisputable evidence that all religions are pure human fabrications.

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ImpssbleMortal

04:33 PMAug 06 2009

one god day equals 13 billion earth years? in what crazy comedy did you get that statistic from? Time is irrelivant to God, and im pretty sure he was talking about our morning and evening when he was creating everything on the earth. One thing is for sure that i got from this news article... the scientists just dont know why the universe is the way it is. Alls they can do is observe and say what they see. All the, hypothesizing of how old and how long ago everything was formed is about as trust worthy as listening to a two year old guess how many blades of grass their are in china. If you want to believe scientist are reporting facts, go for it. And as for seperating God from science, well thats just nonsense. Science is simply the discovery of everything God has made. Infact that should be the standard definition of science. Scientists only "create" out of what God has given them to work with... like giving a kid legos and having him build a house... He might of "created" a house, but...

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MockCee

04:29 PMAug 06 2009

We are stuck on ONE planet, in ONE solar system, in ONE galaxy, yet we have discovered super-massive black-holes, the shape of the Milky Way, quasars, supernovas, stelar nubulae, others planets, gamma-ray bursters, the list just goes on and on! We are not just sheep people. Reading these stories gives me great hope that one day, mankind will get over it's petty bigotries and stupidities, and claim our place on the throne of the universe!

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MockCee

04:24 PMAug 06 2009

This is so cool! As a lover of astrophysics, I am always thrilled to read about strange new discoveries in the universe! As a member of a Left-Hand Path philosophy, I feel it also puts coventional religious perspectives of humanity to shame. We are taught that we are ignorant sheep before Creation, but look at the discoveries we have made!

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Stars in a distant galaxy move at stunning speeds — greater than 1 million mph, astronomers have revealed. These hyperactive stars move at about twice the speed of our sun through the Milky Way, because their host galaxy is very massive, yet strangely compact. The scene, which has theorists baffled, is 11 billion light-years away. It is the first time motions of individual stars have been measured in a galaxy so distant.