NGC 4650A appears to be two galaxies in one. A rare type of galaxy known as a Polar Ring, NGC 4650A is composed of an old central group of stars and a young ring of stars rotating farther out. Both components are clearly visible in this featured photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope. What creates Polar Ring Galaxies is still being researched, but a leading theory is the collision of two distinct galaxies in the distant past. Polar Ring Galaxies allow astronomers to estimate the amount of dark matter in galaxies by measuring the rotation rate of the highly extended ring. An unknown type of dark matter is implied because the ring typically rotates too fast to be held together by only the visible stars.
Located about 130 million light-years away, NGC 4650A is one of only 100 known polar-ring galaxies. Their unusual disk-ring structure is not yet understood fully. One possibility is that polar rings are the remnants of colossal collisions between two galaxies sometime in the distant past, probably at least 1 billion years ago. What is left of one galaxy has become the rotating inner disk of old red stars in the center. Meanwhile, another smaller galaxy which ventured too close was probably severely damaged or destroyed. During the collision the gas from the smaller galaxy would have been stripped off and captured by the larger galaxy, forming a new ring of dust, gas, and stars, which orbit around the inner galaxy almost at right angles to the old disk. This is the polar ring which we see almost edge-on in Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 image of NGC 4560A, created using 3 different color filters (which transmit blue, green, and near-infrared light).
Today's Jumble (7/15/08):
GEBOF = BEFOG; BODUT = DOUBT; CONARY = CRAYON; ENGOBY = BYGONE
CIRCLED LETTERS = EDBYOGO
What he bid at the auction.
"GOOD BYE"
Today is Saint Swithin’s Day.On this day in 971 CE, the relics of the Bishop of Winchester, Saint Swithin, were entombed in Winchester Cathedral.
English tradition teaches that since it rained heavily that day, July 15th will mark the start of a 40-day rainy season.
English tradition teaches that since it rained heavily that day, July 15th will mark the start of a 40-day rainy season.
It is also Cow Appreciation Day. And, that's no bull! But, it is something to "Moo" about.
Other things on this day in history:
1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.
1207 - John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton.
1240 - A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.
1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England.
1410 - Battle of Grunwald, allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the army of the Teutonic Order.
1685 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, England after his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemore on 6 July 1685.
1741 - Alexei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends some men aboard in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
1789 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, by acclamation, named colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris.
1799 - Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta, by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard.
1806 - Pike expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west.
1815 - Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders from aboard HMS Bellerophon.
1823 - A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
1870 - Post-American-Civil-War Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1870 - Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories are established from these vast territories.
1870 - The Kingdom of Prussia and the Second French Empire commence the Franco-Prussian War
1888 - The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people.
1916 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
1927 - Massacre of July 15, 1927: 89 protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
1929 - First weekly radio broadcast of Mormon Tabernacle Choir radio show, Music and the Spoken Word.
1931 - Kid Chocolate becomes Cuba's first world boxing champion.
1934 - Continental Airlines commenced operations
1954 - First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series
1955 - Eighteen Nobel laureates signed the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.
1959 - The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
1974 - In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
1979 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his famous "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation."
1994 - The new Ivybridge railway station, costing £380,000, opens in the town of Ivybridge, Devon, England.
1996 - A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport.
1997 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home.
2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
2002 - Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan gave the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three other suspects in murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
2003 - AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
1207 - John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton.
1240 - A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.
1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England.
1410 - Battle of Grunwald, allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the army of the Teutonic Order.
1685 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, England after his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemore on 6 July 1685.
1741 - Alexei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends some men aboard in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
1789 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, by acclamation, named colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris.
1799 - Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta, by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard.
1806 - Pike expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west.
1815 - Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders from aboard HMS Bellerophon.
1823 - A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
1870 - Post-American-Civil-War Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1870 - Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories are established from these vast territories.
1870 - The Kingdom of Prussia and the Second French Empire commence the Franco-Prussian War
1888 - The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people.
1916 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
1927 - Massacre of July 15, 1927: 89 protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
1929 - First weekly radio broadcast of Mormon Tabernacle Choir radio show, Music and the Spoken Word.
1931 - Kid Chocolate becomes Cuba's first world boxing champion.
1934 - Continental Airlines commenced operations
1954 - First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series
1955 - Eighteen Nobel laureates signed the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.
1959 - The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
1974 - In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
1979 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his famous "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation."
1994 - The new Ivybridge railway station, costing £380,000, opens in the town of Ivybridge, Devon, England.
1996 - A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport.
1997 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home.
2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
2002 - Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan gave the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three other suspects in murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
2003 - AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
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