Ghost Light from Dead Galaxies Sheds Light on Ancient Galaxy Interactions

Ghost Light from Dead Galaxies Sheds Light on Ancient Galaxy Interactions Did you know that astronomers can learn about galaxies that died long ago? Thats part of the story of the cosmos that the  deep cosmos-gazing  Hubble Space Telescope  was built to tell. Along with other telescopes on the ground and on orbit, it fills in the story of the universe as it peers out at distant objects. Some of its most fascinating objects are galaxies, including some that formed in the infancy of the universe and are now long gone from the cosmic scene. What stories do they tell?   What Hubble Found Studying long-dead galaxies sounds like it would be impossible. In a way, it is. Theyre no longer around, but it turns out, some of their stars are. To learn more about early galaxies that no longer exist, Hubble observed dim  light from orphaned stars that lie some 4 billion light-years away from us. They were born billions of years ago and somehow were ejected at high speed from their original galaxies, which themselves are long gone. It turns out some kind of galactic mayhem sent these stars reeling across space. They belonged to a galaxies in a massive galaxy called Pandoras Cluster. The light from those far-flung stars provided clues to a crime scene of truly galactic proportions: as many as six galaxies were somehow torn to pieces within the cluster. How could this happen? Gravity Explains a Lot Each galaxy has a gravitational pull. Its the combined gravity of all the stars, clouds of gas and dust, black holes, and dark matter that exist in the galaxy.  In a cluster, you get the combined gravitational pull of all the galaxies, and that affects all of the members of the cluster. That gravity is pretty strong. In addition, galaxies tend to move around within their clusters, which affects the motions and interacts of their cluster-mates. Add those two effects together and you set the scene  for the destruction of some not-so-lucky small galaxies that happen to get caught in the action.  They get stuck in a squeeze play between their larger neighbors as they travel, Eventually, the strong gravity of the bigger galaxies pulls the smaller ones apart.   Astronomers found clues to this destructive shredding of galaxies by studying the light from stars scattered by the action.That light would be detectable long after the galaxies were destroyed. However, this predicted intracluster glow of stars is very faint and is quite a challenge to observe.These are extremely faint stars and they are brightest in infrared wavelengths of light. This is where Hubble comes in. It has very sensitive detectors to capture that faint glow from the stars. Its observations helped scientists study the combined light of about 200 billion stars that were cast out from interacting galaxies. Its measurements showed that the scattered stars are rich in heavier elements like oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. This means they are not the first-ever stars formed. The first stars consisted mainly of hydrogen and helium, and forged heavier elements in their cores. When those earliest ones died, all the elements were cast into space and into nebulae of gas and dust. Later generations of stars formed from those clouds and show higher concentrations of heavy elements. It is the enriched stars that Hubble studied in an effort to track what happened to their galactic homes.   Future Studies Zero in on More Orphan Stars Theres still a lot to figure out about the earliest, most distant galaxies and their interactions. Everywhere Hubble looks, it finds more and more distant galaxies. The farther out it  peers, the further back in time it looks. Each time it makes a deep field observation, this telescope shows astronomers fascinating things about the earliest times in the cosmos. Thats all part of the study of cosmology, the origin and evolution of the universe.

Catholicism in Medieval Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Catholicism in Medieval Europe - Essay Example Before starting to discuss the topic of the essay, it should be beneficial to point out the main statements, met in literature as for the possible impact, which religion may create on the economic development of any country. When considering the Bible as a complex social and ethical teachings, it is necessary to account, that it does not contain any 'definite system of theoretical and practical knowledge',1 but only the essential features of faith and morality are described; the Bible gives only the basis for behavioral patterns of human business life. The influence of Catholicism on the dynamics of the market system development can not be unilaterally evaluated. The development of capitalism in Italy, Spain, Portugal and the related countries, has happened much later in comparison with the other countries of Western Europe. The explanation to this phenomenon researchers find in the long-lasting Muslim influence in Spain and Portugal.2 Catholicism was noted as the religion, which was able to quickly react to the changing reality, but we are here to consider the possibility of Catholicism as religion influencing the economic development of the Western European countries before 1570, and though the thesis of close connection between religion and economic development is now subjected to fair criticism, it can't be denied that during the period of pre-Industrialism Catholicism as religion has created considerable effect on the way people were living and working, creating the general product and defining the direction of economic development of their countries.3 As far as the data about the economic development of pre-Industrial Europe is scarce, it would be better to base the evaluation of the economic state at that time and the impact of religious allegiance on that state through the notions of urban population growth and looking closer at the situation with real wages by 1570. Real wages may become the very factor, which will lead us to the conclusion, but exact numbers are absent and we may only take into consideration the aspects of growth or decrease in these wages in comparison to other non-catholic countries of Europe.4 The growth of urban population also presupposes the higher economic prosperity of the certain European countries. It should be noted here, that the northern parts of Europe, which were characterized by the development of Protestantism, were by that time not very well economically developed, due to the scanty population and lacking economic ties between the countries of that region; this has little to do with the impa ct of religion, but it should be noted, that the notions of Catholicism have ultimately defined the way Southern European countries were going in their economic development. It is also necessary to say, that historically the period of European development before 1570 was closely connected with social tension and economic underachievement - facing the consequences of the plague epidemic and crisis of the agrarian production.5 The workers who had traditionally been involved into agriculture, had to leave their places and arrive to cities, where they were hardly been able to find a place of constant employment. The cities by that time were well-developed as the separate units of each state, and had enough amount of autonomy, thus

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Ethics - Essay Example However, the exact grounds that justify connection between the mind and the body along with the energy associated by which the mental impact upon such physical entity, lies beyond the prevailing reach of human knowledge. Despite this such problem with causation that has hardly found resolution in his philosophy, Hume recognizes that the ultimate basis of all value is desire and emotion while the presence of rational judgment is only assumes the role of determining what makes a person satisfy basic desires toward happiness. On the contrary, the ethics proposed by Kant perceives good will as the sole absolute good wherein moral act does not constitute the will to gratify self-interests and that one’s act can only be considered to possess moral worth if it is done out of duty. Kant further supposes that purity of thoughts are a basis of moral obligation which is generally attached to a universal principle every human deed ought to abide by in order to be labeled moral in nature. Through his metaphysical critique of pure reason, nevertheless, Kant admits that the highest sensibility to knowledge is yet unreachable for even as mind is susceptible to dynamism, its capacity for operating within conf ines of reason and morality is limited by the empirical realm of space and time. While Plato, on the other hand, metaphysically holds the theory of ‘dualism’ in consideration of reality on different levels being composed of ‘forms’ and ‘physical world’ where the latter contains images that are less real than physical objects, he establishes an amply similar argument with Kant’s ethical position. Based on virtue, Plato presents ‘well-being’ as the ultimate end of human’s rational thinking and conduct with which applied virtues form the character traits and pertinent skills that complete an individual. Being a student of Plato, Aristotle