Comments on: Galaxy on edge

By: Hubble Telescope Captures Thin Galaxy - Dusty Dean - Personal Website and Blog

Hubble Telescope Captures Thin Galaxy - Dusty Dean - Personal Website and Blog — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 19:19:00 +0000

[...] sometimes we catch them so precisely to the side that what we see is hard to believe is real. - Bad Astronomy (Galaxy on Edge) The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a striking galaxy called NGC 4452, which appears to [...]

By: NGC 4452: uma galáxia finíssima capturada pelo Hubble « Eternos Aprendizes

NGC 4452: uma galáxia finíssima capturada pelo Hubble « Eternos Aprendizes — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:26:30 +0000

[...] incomum segmento de reta estelar mede 35.000 anos luz de um lado ao outro. Próximo ao centro da NGC 4452 reside um pequeno bulbo de [...]

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:37:54 +0000

@40. JMW Says:

How about this: the Lightsaber Galaxy?

I second that. Very apt.

By: Ben Linus

Ben Linus — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:54:20 +0000

@kkozoriz: Kirk to Bones: “Shut up!”

By: Peter Erwin

Peter Erwin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:39:59 +0000

Anchor @ 36:

Lenticular/S0 galaxies are actually not that rare — probably about 10-15% of bright galaxies.

I’m not sure about an X structure in this particular galaxy; that may be (mostly) an optical illusion. In any case, while such structures could, in some cases, be the result of minor mergers, the majority of them (i.e., so-called “boxy” or “peanut-shaped” bulges) are internally generated: they are the inner, vertically thick parts of stellar bars, seen close to side-on. (And I suspect a significant past merger would not have left this galaxy’s disk as thin as it is.)

By: therm

therm — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:19:12 +0000

There is a huge population of stars outside the “disk”, APOD has a link to a document that is actually written by someone who’s done some research on it. The short exposures show the thin disk, long exposures show the extents of the star cloud. Measuring the length and width from that photo is like seeing a face on Mars, the image doesn’t show the entire picture.

By: mocular

mocular — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:04:27 +0000

Phil, seems you’ve been scooping APOD recently. Are you getting inside info?

By: Captn Tommy

Captn Tommy — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:37:53 +0000

In the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” explaination of this, the galaxy is refered to as Lenticular. This as I believe is a sort of spinning elliptical galaxy, which would explain the star cloud around NGC 4452, and the lack of dust. This could be a very very old galaxy.

It could be that this galaxy is quite different looking from the diskside view.

When I saw this picture I for one thought, “Light Sabre”

Captn Tommy

By: PhilippeC

PhilippeC — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:19:13 +0000

JMW: Exactly what I was thinking! Must be full of jedi in there…

By: JMW

JMW — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:08:43 +0000

How about this: the Lightsaber Galaxy?