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The Universe

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Published on 4/6/2000 Energy spike from a gluon stands alone because a graviton has fled into extra dimensions, taking energy with it. This simulation models an experiment planned for the Tevatron accelerator, slated to start up again in 2001.

The complete article is available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000219/bob1.asp

Hunting for Higher Dimensions

Published on 10/8/2000 On October 6, 2000, BBC chinese reported that scientists have found 18 new freely-Floating celestial objects. If they are planets, this finding will challenge traditional theories of formation of planets.

Freely-Floating Planets

Published on 11/3/2000 Photoed By Habo Telescope: Flaming Caused By The Collision Between Two Galaxies

Flaming Caused By The Collision Between Two Galaxies

Published on 11/9/2000 The photo shows Galaxy NGC4214 is Exploding and Reorganizing

Galaxies Explode and Reorganize

Published on 5/3/2002 NASA published this photo, scientist believed that the taper nebula in the photo suggested formation of new celestial bodies.

Forming New Celestial Bodies

Published on 6/24/2002 New Cosmos Is Forming: Hubble Captures Collision of Several Galaxies, Creating a Torrent of New Stars

New Cosmos Is Forming

Published on 11/2/2002 Mystery Cosmos

Mystery Cosmos

Published on 11/2/2002 2 scientis published their research findings recently (2002) in which they believe a new galaxy was formed no more than 100,000,000 years ago due to collision of two small nebulae.

Newly formed Galaxy

Published on 11/9/2002 On Novermber 1, 2002, from 2:30am to 6am, an unknow flying object appeared in the sky of Yining City of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. 4 reporters took photos of the object from different angles.

Professor Wang Siyuan of Chinese Academy of Science, after studied the photos and report, believed that this flying object must be a vehicle controlled by beings with wisdom.

UFO Appears in Xinjiang, China

Published on 1/2/2003 (Image from: http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Science/)

The image above shows part of our Milky Way. This image was retrieved from analyzing IRAS data. The center of the image is the diffused nebula called "NGC 7822." Gas and dust cloud regions are also found in the image. A great number of new stars are forming in this region. These stars are extremely bright, exceeding the sun’s brightness by thousands of times.

The image was retrieved from 3 wave bands of infrared observation. The three wave bands are 12, 60, and 100 microns, respectively. The region from yellow to white is the infrared bright region, which will not show up on normal visible-light photos. The newly formed stars are always in the deep region of the gas and dust cloud. However, the gas and dust clouds are nearly completely opaque. The visible light emitted from the newly formed stars is absorbed by the gas and dust clouds. Fortunately, the gas and dust cloud becomes the source of infrared radiation after it absorbs light, and it is heated by the absorbed energy. This allows newly formed stars to be observed in this way.

Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) Detects Numerous New Stars in the Milky Way

Published on 1/8/2003 Photo: This schematic figure illustrates what the European team’s view of the rings geometry, in relation to the spiral structure of the Milky Way.

Two separate groups announced at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society the discovery of portions of what appears to be a giant ring of previously unseen and surprisingly old stars surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. If an entire ring exists, theorists might have to rethink details of how the galaxy formed.

Astronomers generally think that most of the galaxy’s tens of billions of stars reside within this relatively thin disk and a thicker bulge near the center. Stars are expected to be more numerous toward the center of our galaxy, thinning out towards the edges. The newly discovered ring contains about 100 to 500 million stars. So it was really a surprise to find millions of stars out by the fringe.

The stars in the ring orbit the galactic center at about half the speed of our Sun, said study member Brian Yanny of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The ring appears to be about 10 times thicker than the disk, Yanny said.

"This ring is unusual in that it appears to consist only of old stars," Rodrigo Ibata of the Observatoire de Strasbourg in France and a member of the European-led team said. "Though there are several galaxies known with bright rings of young stars, none are known to have a ring similar to that of the Milky Way."

Although there are many interpretations about the ring’s forming, astronomers believe that this ring is still a puzzle.

Material sources:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/milkyway_ring_030106.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/06/galaxy.ring.reut/index.html

New Discovery: Ring of Stars Circle the Milky Way (II)

Published on 1/8/2003 Photo: The newfound ring as envisioned by the American-led team.

Two separate groups announced at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society the discovery of portions of what appears to be a giant ring of previously unseen and surprisingly old stars surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. If an entire ring exists, theorists might have to rethink details of how the galaxy formed.

Astronomers generally think that most of the galaxy’s tens of billions of stars reside within this relatively thin disk and a thicker bulge near the center. Stars are expected to be more numerous toward the center of our galaxy, thinning out towards the edges. The newly discovered ring contains about 100 to 500 million stars. So it was really a surprise to find millions of stars out by the fringe.

The stars in the ring orbit the galactic center at about half the speed of our Sun, said study member Brian Yanny of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The ring appears to be about 10 times thicker than the disk, Yanny said.

"This ring is unusual in that it appears to consist only of old stars," Rodrigo Ibata of the Observatoire de Strasbourg in France and a member of the European-led team said. "Though there are several galaxies known with bright rings of young stars, none are known to have a ring similar to that of the Milky Way."

Although there are many interpretations about the ring’s forming, astronomers believe that this ring is still a puzzle.

Material sources:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/milkyway_ring_030106.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/06/galaxy.ring.reut/index.html

New Discovery: Ring of Stars Circle the Milky Way (I)

Published on 1/9/2003 There are countless galaxies in the universe. With the advancement of science and technology, astronomers designed and constructed the Hubble Space Telescope. They have observed hundreds of bright dots in our Milky Way galaxy and nearby galaxies. Those bright dots in these galaxies are called Globular Clusters, which are compact groups of 100,000 to a million stars.

This year’s first issue of Science magazine (volume 299, no. 5603, January 3, 2003) published a series of reports about observations of Globular Clusters. American astronomers Krauss and Chaboyer estimated that the age of the earliest globular cluster and the universe was at least 11.2 billion years. Their observations and analysis supported the case for a dark energy-dominated universe. The image above shows the four stages of the Milky Way’s formation and evolution. Those bright dots spread out all over the Milky Way galaxy are the oldest globular clusters, each of them containing hundreds of thousands of stars.

In 1976, when astrophysicist Ivan King signed his book "The Universe Unfolding" for his student, Francois Schweizer, he wrote, "Francois, try your best to have it (this book) outdated." Francois followed his teacher’s wish and has become an expert in the field of Globular Clusters.

Ivan King’s encouragement indeed reflected the spirit of science. Nowadays, scientists are still making great efforts to seek breakthroughs and discover new theories. Science is indeed advancing and making current knowledge obsolete at a rapid pace.

American Experts Speculate That Some Mysterious Dark Energy Dominates the Universe