Behold The Milky Way In All Of Its “Titanic” Beauty!
Bravo to The Daily Mail for posting this incredible story, which they titled:
“Stunning image of the Milky Way captured using radio waves giving us a ‘brand new view’ of our galaxy uncovers the remains of 27 dead stars”
And it’s incredible!
My “Six Shot Saturday” is literally going to the farthest reaches of space for these incredible images!
As The Daily Mail reports:
Astronomers in Australia have created a ‘unique view’ of the Milky Way by taking information from a radio telescope and producing an image of what our galaxy would look like if humans could see radio waves.
The image from the Murchison Widefield Array telescope shows low-frequency radio emissions from the centre of the galaxy in yellow and gold, with flecks of blue and green.
‘Our images are looking directly at the middle of the Milky Way, towards a region astronomers call the Galactic Centre’, says Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker.
The team from Curtin University used the massive image to discover the remnants of 27 massive stars that exploded in supernovae, one of which happened 9,000 year ago and would have been visible in the Earth sky.
Here is some of what they shared! I have the photo followed by their description of what you are seeing:
This image from the Murchison Widefield Array telescope shows low-frequency radio emissions from the centre of the galaxy presented in a way humans can see
The team from Australia uncovered the remnants of 27 supernova explosions and this image shows the location of where one would have been visible set against the Guilderton Lighthouse in Western Australia
This image shows the galactic centre using radio waves. The red areas are low frequency, middle frequencies are in green and high frequencies in blue. The bright white spot in the centre is the super massive black hole Sagittarius A*
Aboriginal residents of Australia would have seen one of the supernova explosions as it happened 9,000 years ago. This image shows what it would have looked like amongst the Milky Way from the Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia
In 1987, astronomers spotted a ‘titanic supernova’ in a nearby galaxy blazing with the power of over 100 million suns
So, what exactly is a “supernova”? Well, The Daily Mail explain it:
There are two known types of supernova.
The first type occurs in binary star systems when one of the two stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star.
Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter, causing the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.
The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star’s lifetime.
As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core.
Eventually, the core is so heavy it can’t stand its own gravitational force and the core collapses, resulting in another giant explosion.
Wow!
The images were all taken using this Galactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA survey (pictured here). It is also know as GLEAM for short!
These giant star explosions visible in the image would have been eight or more times more massive than the sun before their dramatic destruction.
Bravo to The Daily Mail – click on their story here for even more details and incredible pictures!
I can only imagine the worlds that are out there: just like some of the incredible natural beauty of our own world:
This is Sedona, a spiritual vortex in Arizona that offers out-of-this-world rock formations…you can see more of my pictures by clicking here:
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Leave a comment with your favorite picture of the Milky Way and beyond!
Categories: Art, Australia, Books / Media, Exotic Travel, nature, Pop Culture, Technology, Travel, Travel Adventures, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
The image from the Murchison Widefield Array telescope is so pretty. Thinking about the universe used to blow my tiny mind when I was a kid because I’d always ask ‘what’s after the galaxy?’ My mother, exasperated, would say ‘it just goes on and on a long way’. To which I’d follow with ‘yes I know, but it has to end, so what comes next, what’s outside of all of that?’ Poor mother never had a chance with me as a kid! It still gets to me a bit now thinking about it. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch. Amazing, but so, so mind boggling.
Great images here, thanks for sharing!
Caz x
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I think the same thing and yes, it’s mind-blowing, isn’t it? Thanks for commenting!
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I love shots from space. Great post today, John. Awe-inspiring.
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Thanks Cindy, I am awed by this stuff!
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Stunning and, as Pete says, mind-blowing!
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Thank you for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it!
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My goodness! These make you feel so small don’t they?
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Indeed! Imagine the heat of a hundred million suns! No sunscreen will handle that!
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Wow, these pictures/images are incredible John. Thanks so much for sharing this.
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I am fascinated by this stuff, and these stories offer a break from music, food and movies! Thanks as always for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it!
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I try not to think too much about ‘Space’. It has a tendency to ‘blow my mind’. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes…like this one: if it ends, what’s on the other side?
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Who knows? 🙂
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