Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Agencia Espacial NASA, nos informa que ha lanzado al espacio un cohete para experimentar la mayor brillantez del Universo incluso que nosotros creíamos conocer. NASA nos dice...."Un experimento de la NASA cohete sonda ha detectado un sorprendente superávit de luz infrarroja en el espacio oscuro entre las galaxias, la cósmica difusa el resplandor brillante de todas las galaxias conocidas combinadas. El resplandor se cree que está huérfano de estrellas remotas de las galaxias.................
Los hallazgos redefine lo que los científicos piensan de las galaxias. Las galaxias pueden no tener un límite de estrellas establecidas, pero en su lugar se extienden hasta grandes distancias, formando un vasto mar, interconectada de estrellas.................
Observaciones del Experimento Fondo Cósmico Infrarrojo, o CIBER, están ayudando a resolver el debate sobre si este fondo de luz infrarroja en el universo, calculado previamente detectado por el telescopio espacial Spitzer de la NASA, viene de estas corrientes de estrellas despojadas demasiado distantes para ser visto de forma individual, o, alternativamente, desde las primeras galaxias para formar en el universo.................."
This is a time-lapse photograph of the Cosmic
Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) rocket launch, taken from NASA's Wallops
Flight Facility in Virginia in 2013. The image is from the last of four
launches.
Image Credit:
T. Arai/University of Tokyo
Galaxies collide to form larger structures in our
universe, kicking out stars. The CIBER rocket experiments have detected what
appears to be an infrared glow from these stranded stars (appearing as yellow
clouds) on large scales across our sky.
Observations from CIBER have shown a surprising
surplus of infrared light filling the spaces between galaxies. To understand how
scientists measured the amount of this mysterious light, imagine using the tips
of icebergs to estimate their total volume of ice.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Feature Link:
This graphic illustrates how CIBER team measures a
diffuse glow of infrared light filling the spaces between galaxies.
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These images from CIBER show large patches of the
sky at two different infrared wavelengths (1.1 microns and 1.6 microns) after
all known galaxies have been subtracted out.
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This plot shows data from CIBER rockets launched in
2010 and 2012.
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A NASA sounding rocket experiment has detected a surprising surplus of
infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, a diffuse cosmic glow as
bright as all known galaxies combined. The glow is thought to be from orphaned
stars flung out of galaxies.
The findings redefine what scientists think of as galaxies. Galaxies may not
have a set boundary of stars, but instead stretch out to great distances,
forming a vast, interconnected sea of stars.
Observations from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, or CIBER, are
helping settle a debate on whether this background infrared light in the
universe, previously detected by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, comes from
these streams of stripped stars too distant to be seen individually, or
alternatively from the first galaxies to form in the universe.
"We think stars are being scattered out into space during galaxy collisions,"
said Michael Zemcov, lead author of a new paper describing the results from the
rocket project and an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
"While we have previously observed cases where stars are flung from galaxies in
a tidal stream, our new measurement implies this process is widespread."
Using suborbital sounding rockets, which are smaller than those that carry
satellites to space and are ideal for short experiments, CIBER captured
wide-field pictures of the cosmic infrared background at two infrared
wavelengths shorter than those seen by Spitzer. Because our atmosphere itself
glows brightly at these particular wavelengths of light, the measurements can
only be done from space.
"It is wonderfully exciting for such a small NASA rocket to make such a huge
discovery," said Mike Garcia, program scientist from NASA Headquarters.
“Sounding rockets are an important element in our balanced toolbox of missions
from small to large.”
During the CIBER flights, the cameras launch into space, then snap pictures
for about seven minutes before transmitting the data back to Earth. Scientists
masked out bright stars and galaxies from the pictures and carefully ruled out
any light coming from more local sources, such as our own Milky Way galaxy.
What's left is a map showing fluctuations in the remaining infrared background
light, with splotches that are much bigger than individual galaxies. The
brightness of these fluctuations allows scientists to measure the total amount
of background light.
To the surprise of the CIBER team, the maps revealed a dramatic excess of
light beyond what comes from the galaxies. The data showed that this infrared
background light has a blue spectrum, which means it increases in brightness at
shorter wavelengths. This is evidence the light comes from a previously
undetected population of stars between galaxies. Light from the first galaxies
would give a spectrum of colors that is redder than what was seen.
"The light looks too bright and too blue to be coming from the first
generation of galaxies," said James Bock, principal investigator of the CIBER
project from Caltech and JPL. "The simplest explanation, which best explains the
measurements, is that many stars have been ripped from their galactic
birthplace, and that the stripped stars emit on average about as much light as
the galaxies themselves."
Future experiments can test whether stray stars are indeed the source of the
infrared cosmic glow. If the stars were tossed out from their parent galaxies,
they should still be located in the same vicinity. The CIBER team is working on
better measurements using more infrared colors to learn how stripping of stars
happened over cosmic history.
Results from two of four CIBER flights, both of which launched from White
Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2010 and 2012, appear Friday, Nov. 7 in the
journal Science.
Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The work was supported by NASA, with initial
support provided by JPL's Director's Research and Development Fund. Japanese
participation in CIBER was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Korean participation in CIBER was supported by the Korean Astronomy and Space
Science Institute."
For more information on NASA’s sounding rocket experiments, visit:
For more information about CIBER, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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