Baffling boxy bulge

[n2doc]

18-Nov-2009: Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centres of spiral galaxies puzzling. A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 4710 is part of a survey that astronomers have conducted to learn more about the formation of bulges, which are a substantial component of most spiral galaxies.

When targeting spiral galaxy bulges, astronomers often seek edge-on galaxies, as their bulges are more easily distinguishable from the disc. This exceptionally detailed edge-on view of NGC 4710 taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard Hubble reveals the galaxy's bulge in the brightly coloured centre. The luminous, elongated white plane that runs through the bulge is the galaxy disc. The disc and bulge are surrounded by eerie-looking dust lanes.

When staring directly at the centre of the galaxy, one can detect a faint, ethereal "X"-shaped structure. Such a feature, which astronomers call a "boxy" or "peanut-shaped" bulge, is due to the vertical motions of the stars in the galaxy's bar and is only evident when the galaxy is seen edge-on. This curiously shaped puff is often observed in spiral galaxies with small bulges and open arms, but is less common in spirals with arms tightly wrapped around a more prominent bulge, such as NGC 4710.

NGC 4710 is a member of the giant Virgo Cluster of galaxies and lies in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices (the Hair of Queen Berenice). It is not one of the brightest members of the cluster, but can easily be seen as a dim elongated smudge on a dark night with a medium-sized amateur telescope. In the 1780s, William Herschel discovered the galaxy and noted it simply as a "faint nebula". It lies about 60 million light-years from the Earth and is an example of a lenticular or S0-type galaxy – a type that seems to have some characteristics of both spiral and elliptical galaxies.

more:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0914.html

[Dogmudgeon]

1. They're not bulges. They're "Cosmic Love Handles".

The Barred Spiral galaxies love that kind of thing. (And don't even get them started on the Seyferts!)

--d!

[boobooday]

4. Sweet.

:rofl:

[tularetom]

2. I thought you were referring to this baffling boxy bulge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3730364.stm

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. +1... exactly what I expected to see. n/t

[Uben]

5. they figured that one out.....

....it was an attempt to show that Bush had a spine. Of course, he didn't, but they used some rolled up socks they had left over from the "cod piece" photo on the "mission acomplished" photo shoot to give that appearance.

(It's a little known fact that Bush initially put the rolled up socks in the rear of his pants before being instructed to put them in the front before the cod-piece photos were taken!)

[Ready4Change]

6. Orbit mechanics of out-of-plane stars?

I love guessing about these things.

Over time, MOST of the stars fall into line and settle, more or less, into the main orbit plane. The closer your original path was to the plane, the more time the planes gravity can work to bring you into line.

If your orbit is way off of the plane, say, perpendicular to it, the plane would act, I think, to slow down your orbit, reducing your orbit until you are within the spherical core of stars.

But maybe there is an orbital angle where you can find relative stability, neither falling into the plane nor the core. And viewed from the side, the few stars in that alternate sort of orbit would form a faint, foggy X. Perhaps those stars are the galactic version of our solar systems comets, in highly elliptical orbits, diving in like falcons, then swooping back out to hover before the next go-round.

Or, maybe the X is the targeting reticule of that galaxies anti-galactic super cannon, and we should be concerned that so many are pointed in our direction?