Glossary
When I was in Ireland in 2013, I kept seeing signs for ‘quasar.’ I finally learned that it’s the European way of saying laser tag. It has nothing to do with quasars, which are a specific type of a specific type of galaxy. Listen to this week’s (pretty short) podcast on two types of active galaxies: quasars and blazars.
Below the cut, I have the transcript, sources, music credits, and timeline of people I talked about! If you have suggestions for topics I could cover, please send me a Tumblr message or tweet at me on Twitter at @HDandtheVoid, or you can ask me to my face if you know me. Please subscribe on iTunes, rate my podcast and maybe review it, and tell friends if you think they’d like to hear it!
(My thoughts on the next episode are the SOFIA observatory, Chuck Yaeger, or the great Stephen Hawking. The next episode will go up April 2nd.)
Glossary
active galaxy or active galactic nucleus- a galaxy with a small core of emission embedded at the center. This core is typically very variable and very bright compared to the rest of the galaxy. These galaxies emit much more energy than they should; this excess energy is found in the infrared, radio, UV, and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
blazar - a subcategory of active galaxy, it is an extremely bright, distant object, powered by a black hole, which emits massive amounts of energy. It is distinct from a quasar because it is even brighter.
extragalactic objects - objects outside our Milky Way galaxy.
interferometry - a group of techniques to extract information from superimposing electromagnetic waves to create interference. In radio astronomy, this is done by using a wide spread of receivers to look at the same distant object, then bringing that data together with a correlator that can create a larger, clearer picture than an individual radio telescope alone could.
lunar occultations - when stars pass behind the Moon. This is the basis for a method of determining and mapping star positions.
quasar - a subcategory of active galaxy, it is an extremely bright, distant object, powered by a black hole, which emits massive amounts of energy. It is distinct from a blazar because it is less-bright. The name is a contraction of “quasi-stellar radio source” (which is not necessarily true of all quasars—90% are radio-quiet).
torus - a donut shape.
Script/Transcript
Timeline
Walter Baade, German (1893-1960)
Rudolph Minkowski, German-American (1895-1976)
Fritz Zwicky, Swiss (1898-1974)
Gordon Stanley, New Zealander (1921-2001)
John Bolton, English-Australian (1922-1993)
Owen Bruce Slee, Australian (1924-2016)
Allan Rex Sandage, American (1926-2010)
Cyril Hazard, English (1928- )
Maartin Schmidt, Dutch (1929- )
Hong-Yee Chiu, American (1932- )
Stephen Hawking, English (1942 -2018)
Jedidah Isler
Sources
Active Galaxies via NASA (Dec 2016)
Galaxy shapes via Cornell University (April 2000)
Galaxies and Black Holes by David Merritt, published on NED by Caltech and NASA
Cyril Hazard via University of Pittsburgh
The Discovery of Quasars and its Aftermath via Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (2014)
“Characteristically, Fritz Zwicky (1898–1974; Figure 11) immediately pointed out that ‘All of the five quasi-stellar galaxies described individually by Sandage (1965) evidently belong to the subclass of compact galaxies with pure emission spectra previously discovered and described by the present writer. (Zwicky, 1965: 1293).’ A few years later, Zwicky was less circumspect and wrote: ‘In spite of all these facts being known to him in 1964, Sandage attempted one of the most astounding feats of plagiarism by announcing the existence of a major new component of the Universe: the quasi-stellar galaxies ... Sandage‘s earthshaking discovery consisted in nothing more than renaming compact galaxies, calling them ‘interlopers‘ and quasistellar galaxies, thus playing the interloper himself. (Zwicky and Zwicky, 1971: xix)’”
Lunar occultations via Sky and Telescope
Quasars and Blazars by Matthew Whiting (a chapter in his thesis, What made the quasar blush? Emission mechanisms in optically-red quasars) via the Australia Telescope National Facility (2000)
Jedidah Isler on quasars and blazars via TED Talks (March 2015)
Quasar definition via Space.com (Feb 2018)
Intro Music: ‘Better Times Will Come’ by No Luck Club off their album Prosperity
Filler Music: ‘Into The White’ by Pixies off their album Wave of Mutilation.
Outro Music: ‘Fields of Russia’ by Mutefish off their album On Draught
More Posts from Fillthevoid-with-space and Others
Space Station Crew Members Walk In Space to Connect Docking Adapter Component
Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA conducted a spacewalk March 30 to connect the newly relocated Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) to the Harmony module in preparation for the delivery of an International Docking Adapter to PMA-3 to which U.S. commercial crew spacecraft will link up to in the years ahead. The mating adapter was robotically relocated from the port side of the Tranquility module to Harmony March 26 by ground controllers. Kimbrough and Whitson also installed the second of two upgraded computer relay boxes on the station’s truss and installed shields and covers over PMA-3 and the vacant port on Tranquility to which the PMA had been attached. It was the 199th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the sixth in Kimbrough’s career and the eighth for Whitson, who surpassed NASA’s Suni Williams for most spacewalks and most aggregate spacewalking time by a female.
The 10-billion-year life cycle of the Sun, illustrated by David Meltzer for National Geographic, May 1974.
RIP, little buddy.
Equal opportunity benefits can be far-reaching
https://twitter.com/sarahmei/status/818682610712866817
Fibonacci you crazy bastard….
As seen in the solar system (by no ridiculous coincidence), Earth orbits the Sun 8 times in the same period that Venus orbits the Sun 13 times! Drawing a line between Earth & Venus every week results in a spectacular FIVE side symmetry!!
Lets bring up those Fibonacci numbers again: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34..
So if we imagine planets with Fibonacci orbits, do they create Fibonacci symmetries?!
You bet!! Depicted here is a:
2 sided symmetry (5 orbits x 3 orbits)
3 sided symmetry (8 orbits x 5 orbits)
5 sided symmetry (13 orbits x 8 orbits) - like Earth & Venus
8 sided symmetry (21 orbits x 13 orbits)
I wonder if relationships like this exist somewhere in the universe….
Read the Book | Follow | Hi-Res -2- -3- -5- -8-
I'm reading Starlight Detectives pretty hard cuz new episode goes up on Monday and let me tell you, I now have a very deep appreciation for the photographs we have of space.
Small Magellanic Cloud: Stunning Infrared Image
For the love of all that’s good and proper click here and zoom way into this image. It’s more than beautiful. The fact that it’s infrared means that we’re able to see past a lot of the dust that would otherwise block our view.
(Image credit: ESA/VISTA)
Where to look, and when.
It’s international dark sky week! Please enjoy this great Bortle scale.
skyglowproject What sky do you live under? Learn more at SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM
A podcast project to fill the space in my heart and my time that used to be filled with academic research. In 2018, that space gets filled with... MORE SPACE! Cheerfully researched, painstakingly edited, informal as hell, definitely worth everyone's time.
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