Lyman Alpha Blob | Clipmarks


	Lyman Alpha Blob

violetnightshade

7-2-2009 9:14 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a11c06a9-1dc2-4b30-970e-11bb6208c5c4/46C41460-62FA-4305-AAEC-1066AA83497E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090702.html" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090702.html" style="font-size: 11px;">antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090702.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/img/4C6CB6DF-FEDA-4AED-A50A-38F6C55EE607" alt="See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
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Dubbed a Lyman-alpha blob, an enormous cloud of hydrogen gas spans
several hundred thousand light-years in
<A href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/labs/">this remarkable
image</A> (left), a composite of
<A href="http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/
multiwavelength_astronomy/multiwavelength_astronomy/">x-ray, optical,
and infrared</A> data
from space and ground based observatories.
The gigantic, amoeba-like structure is seen as it was when
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060323.html">the universe was</A> a
<A href="http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html">mere</A> 2 billion
years old (about 12 billion
<A href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_age.html">years ago</A>).
Lyman-alpha blobs are so called because they strongly emit
radiation due to the
<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_series">Lyman-alpha emission</A>
line of hydrogen gas.
Normally, Lyman-alpha emission is in the ultraviolet part of
the spectrum, but Lyman-apha blobs are so distant, their light is
redshifted to (longer) optical
<A href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/
ems1.html">wavelengths</A>.
X-ray data (blue)
<A href="http://arxiv.org/abs/0904.0452">indicates</A> the presence of a
<A href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/
blackholes_sm.html">supermassive black hole</A>
feeding at the center of an active galaxy embedded in the blob.
</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090702.html">Lyman-alpha blobs could represent an early phase in
galaxy formation where the heating is so great it begins
to limit further rapid growth of
<A href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/quasars.html">active
galaxies</A> and their supermassive black holes.
</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/46C41460-62FA-4305-AAEC-1066AA83497E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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