One of the scientific facts revealed by the new James Webb Space Telescope is the immense
size of the universe.
A massive object hidden in the cosmos has been discovered by a space-based observatory.
What was the JWST's discovery?
How massive is it?
What are the implications of the size?
Join us as we discuss how the JWST just discovered a massive object 100 times the size of the
Milky Way galaxy, among other things.
One of the broadest fields in human history is astronomy.
Humans have been in awe of what we see in space for many generations.
There is very little doubt that we will witness further scientific breakthroughs in space
with the introduction of instruments like the mighty James Webb Space Telescope, suggesting
that the telescope's rather hefty development costs of $10 billion and the complexity of
the design are perfectly justified.
Scientists and the general public continue to be shocked by the grandeur of objects in
space.
The Alcyoneus Galaxy, one of the largest objects ever discovered, demonstrates how nature is
compelled to fill the vast span of space that exists and is potentially habitable.
Its unintentional discovery, which is also true of many other life-changing discoveries
or breakthroughs, adds to its fascination.
Alcyoneus is a radio galaxy, if you're wondering what it is.
A radio galaxy is a galaxy that has a supermassive black hole at its core.
As matter falls into the black hole, it generates and releases energy in the form of two radio
jets from opposite sides of the galaxy's core, which is also known as an active galactic
nucleus.
Radio Galaxies are unusual objects that originate in low density conditions and have an estimated
total linear length of at least 2.3 million light years.
Astronomers study radio galaxies to understand more about the origins and evolution of radio
emissions.
The researchers chose the name Alcyoneus from Greek mythology since he was the son of Ouranos,
the primordial lord of the sky.
Alcyoneus was a giant that battled Heracles and other gods for control of the universe.
The famous Pergamon Altar in Berlin houses a sculpture of Alcyoneus.
A team led by PhD student Martijn Oei discovered Alcyoneus, the largest galaxy ever spotted.
Another unexpected element of this finding is that it disproves some long-held beliefs
about the formation of radio galaxies.
Why is that so?
Scientists had never seen such massive objects produced by a single Galaxy, so the fact that
the newly discovered Galaxy was photographed with two plasma plumes was unusual.
Nevertheless, researchers determined that some Galaxies have a sphere of influence that
extends far beyond their usual surroundings.
How large is the Alcyoneus Galaxy?
Remember how measurements in space, such as this galaxy, works.
Scientists can only acquire cosmic images from one perspective, that of the Earth, which
limits their ability to determine the length of a Galaxy.
Scientists typically measure a low estimate of overall length; but, in the case of Alcyoneus,
the low estimate is still astounding.
The Galaxy stretches for more than 16 million light years, which is equivalent to aligning
100 Milky Way galaxies.
Over 1000 radio galaxies have been identified by scientists, but only ten of them are longer
than ten million light years.
Alcyoneus was discovered using data from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey, or LOT.
By removing angular compact sources and imaging at 60 and 90 resolutions, the LOT dr2 was
reprocessed.
The images obtained enabled them to study a new sensitivity area for radio Galaxy lobes,
and hence provide exciting evidence for the search for unknown radio galaxies of great
angular length.
And, in terms of cosmic distances, Alcyoneus is rather close to Earth; it is just around
3 billion light years away, which is still close to our Galaxy's backyard.
Astronomers say the enormous Galaxy encompasses a sky region equivalent to that of the moon.
Scientists were thrilled by the Alcyoneus Discovery because its plumes give information
about some of the most difficult filaments of the cosmic web to characterize.
The cosmic web in this context refers to the present grown-up Universe, which looks like
a network of filaments and clusters.
Observing galaxies, filaments, and clusters is not difficult; what is difficult is identifying
the medium between galaxies, which has only been done a few times; scientists anticipate
that Alcyoneus will change this.
This is because Alcyoneus inhabits a filament, and its plumes encounter a headwind as they
move through the medium.
This happens with a Milky Way as well, but the difference is that it gradually changes
the direction and shape of the plumes.
For many years, scientists assumed that the structures and pressures of radio galaxies'
plumes may be influenced by filament features.
However, before the discovery of Alcyoneus, scientists had never uncovered an example
of such a relationship.
They now reveal that Alcyoneus plumes are so huge and uncommon that the surrounding
medium may readily shape them.
So, how did Alcyoneus become so massive?
There are some theories.
The researchers that discovered Alcyoneus believed it was created by a massive black
hole.
They discovered that Alcyoneus did not stand out in the three properties stated above despite
the fact that a large number of stars with a lot of Stardust have highly intense jet
streams.
For the time being, the genesis of Alcyoneus remains a mystery.
Many people are aware that planets have moons; the Earth, for example, has one, as any high
school geography student will confirm; certain planets, like as Jupiter and Neptune, have
multiple moons; asteroids with moons, on the other hand, are uncommon.
Only about 150 of the approximately 1.1 million asteroids observed so far have Moon companions,
but scientists have discovered a much rarer asteroid with three moons.
How did the asteroid Elektra acquire not one, not two, but three moons?
It's worth noting that, while Electra was first identified as an asteroid in the nineteenth
century, its role as the supreme commander of an army of three moons was only recently
confirmed.
A 160-mile-long asteroid was found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in
1873.
Its first moon was spotted in 2003, millennia later, and its second moon in 2014.
130 Elektra, or Elektra for short, also offered scientists how to detect other faint, difficult-to-find
moons, such as those linked to asteroids.
Asteroids are rather small and only dimly illuminated at best, thus anything even smaller
put adjacent to an asteroid will be dimmer and fainter since it will most likely be outshone
by its parent asteroid, making moons smaller or closer to their parent difficult to detect.
Exoplanets are exceedingly elusive for the same reasons that they orbit their parent
stars.
The first moon, which is around six kilometers long, orbits Electra at a distance of around
1 300 kilometers on average.
The second moon, which is just two kilometers broad and circles the asteroid at a distance
of 500 kilometers on average, is even smaller.
The newest moon, with an orbital distance of around 340 kilometers, is also the smallest
in the group, measuring only 1.6 kilometers in length.
This makes it difficult to see.
It is approximately 15 000 times fainter than the asteroid.
The third Moon orbiting Elektra was discovered by Anthony Berdeu of Thailand's National Astronomical
Research Institute and his colleagues.
The researchers meticulously analyzed the raw data from the spherical instrument located
on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope using a freshly created data
reduction pipeline to carefully and successfully reduce noise.
The sphere captures incredibly detailed imagery of objects in space, and it can extract images
of extremely faint objects with the use of a 10-meter telescope.
Surprisingly, the third moon was found in earlier photos using current processing techniques.
They use data processing techniques to forecast and delete the asteroid's bright light, known
as a Halo.
Elektra's third Moon surfaced after the data was processed, implying that the moon was
present in the data all along but was undetectable to the processing processes available in 2005.
Several elements of Elektra and her moons are still being studied by scientists.
For example, they are confused how four objects came to be linked.
One idea is how the two-moon asteroid Kleopatra originated.
Though scientists have yet to determine how frequently the process occurred in the solar
system, they were able to deduce that the twin moons were most likely formed from matter
expelled by the parent body.
All three moons might have formed in the same way as Earth's moon did, implying that they
were most likely formed by the collision of another asteroid on Elektra.
One reason scientists hunt for moons circling asteroids is to improve the accuracy of mass
calculations.
If an asteroid does not have a moon, its mass can be estimated based on its size and composition,
although even the process may provide erroneous results.
When moons are present, astronomers can use a set of Kepler's equations to calculate an
asteroid's mass.
Scientists can calculate an asteroid's density based on its mass and size, which gives a
wealth of information on its composition.
It can tell whether an asteroid includes metals or is merely a collection of low-density rocks
held together by gravity.
As a result, understanding about an asteroid's moons can provide a lot of information about
it.
The discovery of Elektra's third moon also acts as a sort of test run for a technique
that may fundamentally alter how we discover celestial objects.
It's crucial to remember that the moon was found by taking a fresh look at previously
collected data.
Therefore, many moons could still be concealed in past records, waiting to be found; all
it takes is a new perspective on the data.
Take time to reflect on these Incredible Space Discoveries in the comments section below.
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