Just wanted to apologise for not posting AstroCapsule last week because I had exams. I also wanted to tell you. That I have a new format for AstroCapsule. From now onwards, I am going to mention a few articles and write a few sentences about it and I will elaborate one of the articles that I found most interesting.
1. Hubble’s Andromeda Galaxy Unlocks Clues To Star Birth:
Hubble scientists and “citizen scientists” , who are volunteers, have together seem created a mosaic of pouters of andromeda Galaxy. On closer inspection, you can clearly see blue dots which are giant stars. They conducted this to find the IMF (Initial Mass Function) of stars within a star cluster.
http://astronomynow.com/2015/09/05/hubbles-andromeda-galaxy-survey-unlocks-clues-to-star-birth/
2. Dark Matter Even Darker Than Once Thought:
Dark matter “does not reflect, absorb or emit light, making it invisible”. Scientists have always wanted to know its properties and its behaviour. They decided to conduct a research. Only, how can they do that if they can't even see it? They decided to conduct it the way they would for normal matter, this is making them collide. Galaxies are made of stars, gas, and dark matter. They started searching for Galaxy clusters where the collisions or dark matter are large enough to be seen clearly.
http://astronomynow.com/2015/03/28/dark-matter-even-darker-than-once-thought/
3. A Galaxy In Bloom:
This was the article that I found most interesting. This new Galaxy is called the ESO 381-12 or PGC 42871 . It is a very curious case as it seems to be a mix of Spiral and Elliptical galaxies, therefore being classified as Lenticular Galaxy. It is located 270 light years away from Earth in the Centaurus constellation. This celestial body proves to be a very mysterious case for scientists. They believe it may have formed when it collided with another Galaxy, though it is not confirmed. They believe that due to the collisions, there were shockwaves sent through it structure the looked like “ripples in a pond” and permanently changing their appearance. Very close to it is another Galaxy called ESO 381-13 or PGC 42877 and the scientists believe that this may be the Galaxy ESO 381-12 has been interacting with. I personally found this article the most interesting out of the three because I have an interest in life outside earth. Something that everyone had as a kid, everyone fantasised about. If there is no life anywhere else, what if this permanent deformity of this Galaxy has managed to create something amongst its midst? What if it has created intelligent life forms?
http://astronomynow.com/2015/07/09/a-galaxy-in-bloom-new-hubble-snap-of-eso381-12/