Toivosworld - Toi Díaz

Galaxies: Cities of Stars

Galaxies are like cities made of oodles of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. These beautiful cosmic structures come in many shapes and sizes. Though there are a slew of galaxies in the universe, there are only a few we can see with the unaided eye or backyard telescope.

How many types are out there, how’d so many of them wind up with weird names, and how many stars live inside them? Hold tight while we explore these cosmic metropolises.

Galaxies come in lots of different shapes, sizes, and colors. But astronomers have noticed that there are mainly three types: spiral, elliptical, and irregular.

Spiral galaxies, like our very own Milky Way, look similar to pinwheels! These galaxies tend to have a bulging center heavily populated by stars, with elongated, sparser arms of dust and stars that wrap around it. Usually, there’s a huge black hole hiding at the center, like the Milky Way’s Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star). Our galactic neighbor, Andromeda (also known as Messier 31 or M31), is also a spiral galaxy!

Elliptical galaxies tend to be smooth spheres of gas, dust, and stars. Like spiral galaxies, their centers are typically bulges surrounded by a halo of stars (but minus the epic spiral arms). The stars in these galaxies tend to be spread out neatly throughout the galaxies and are some of the oldest stars in the universe! Messier 87 (M87) is one example of an elliptical galaxy. The supermassive black hole at its center was recently imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope.

Irregular galaxies are, well … a bit strange. They have one-of-a-kind shapes, and many just look like messy blobs. Astronomers think that irregular galaxies’ uniqueness is a result of interactions with other galaxies, like collisions! Galaxies are so big, with so much distance between their stars, that even when they collide, their stars usually do not. Galaxy collisions have been important to the formation of our Milky Way and others. When two galaxies collide, clouds of gas, dust, and stars are violently thrown around, forming an entirely new, larger one! This could be the cause of some irregular galaxies seen today.

Now that we know the different types of galaxies, what about how many stars they contain? Galaxies can come in lots of different sizes, even among each type. Dwarf galaxies, the smallest version of spiral, elliptical, and irregular galaxies, are usually made up of 1,000 to billions of stars. Compared to our Milky Way’s 200 to 400 billion stars, the dwarf galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud is tiny, with just a few hundred million stars! IC 1101, on the other hand, is one of the largest elliptical galaxies found so far, containing almost 100 trillion stars.

Ever wondered how galaxies get their names? Astronomers have a number of ways to name galaxies, like the constellations we see them in or what we think they resemble. Some even have multiple names!

A more formal way astronomers name galaxies is with two-part designations based on astronomical catalogs, published collections of astronomical objects observed by specific astronomers, observatories, or spacecraft. These give us cryptic names like M51 or Swift J0241.3-0816. Catalog names usually have two parts:

A letter, word, or short acronym that identifies a specific astronomical catalog.

A sequence of numbers and/or letters that uniquely identify the galaxy within that catalog.

For M51, the “M” comes from the Messier catalog, which Charles Messier started compiling in 1771, and the “51” is because it’s the 51st entry in that catalog. Swift J0241.3-0816 is a galaxy observed by the Swift satellite, and the numbers refer to its location in the sky, similar to latitude and longitude on Earth.

There’s your quick intro to galaxies, but there’s much more to learn about them. Keep up with NASA Universe on Facebook and Twitter where we post regularly about galaxies.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

TEATRI - TEATRO GRECO TAORMINA, ERACLEA MINOA, PALAZZOLO ACREIDE, SEGESTA, SIRACUSA, TEATRO MASSIMO PALERMO, TEATRO REGINA MARGHERITA CALTANISSETTA, TEATRO PIRANDELLO AGRIGENTO, TEATRO MASSIMO BELLINI A CATANIA, TEATRO VITTORIO EMANUELE MESSINA.

THEATER AND SICILY - 02 THEATER: EMOTIONAL SITE

The first theaters in Sicily were the Greek ones that built them in every city they founded. I love these theaters that have the sky on the roof and the sea in front of the spectators, where the spectators surround the actor and the word arrives everywhere with the same strength and beauty. The Arabs did not bring theaters but minstrels and poetry, the Normans with their deeds created the starting point for the puppet theater. The Arab minstrels soon became Storytellers and created a theater without actors where the music and the verses and the drawings of events described the story. Although the Pupi theater appears poor and primordial it was an important constant of Sicilian culture. The Pupari visited the villages and created a theater in every square reciting the history of the Paladins with rhymes and verses. In every big city there was a puppet theater that the priests did not criticize and where poor and rich attended as it spoke of love and honor, of duties and traitors, very strong elements in our culture.

Towards the end of 1700 began the first theaters of which you see some photos and that were frequented by the nobility and rich bourgeoisie. In reality there were others much more popular that were an evolution of the puppet theater. But these are not the only theaters in Sicily. I remember that the first time I went to the theater was when I was five years old to see a company that played a very funny farce but based on betrayals and loves, that I did not understand. The theater in which I was was very large, with the stars for the ceiling and all of us spectators around the stage. This theater was the square of the village where a truck had climbed with a small stage and the painted backdrops to offer a show for the patronal feast. That company of popular actors (in the sense that they came from the people, reciting texts for the people), remembered what had been the “Commedia dell'Arte” those small companies of actors who invaded Europe in 1500-1600 disclosing the art theatrical. Now there are poor companies with few means that do not always visit my old town to still recite the classics of popular theater; But I see that the young people of my village regularly act as actors, creating a stage in the square to play on.

And that’s what I wanted to tell you: a theater to play in Sicily is not just a building but a popular concept to find and listen, to participate, laugh and eventually think. And these places that create, sow and spread emotions in Sicily there are many because Sicily itself is an emotion.

TEATRO E SICILIA - 02 - IL TEATRO: IL LUOGO DELLE EMOZIONI

I primi teatri in Sicilia furono quelli greci che li costruirono in ogni città che fondarono. Io amo questi teatri che hanno per tetto il cielo e per fondale il mare, dove gli spettatori circondano l’attore e la parola arriva ovunque con la stessa forza e bellezza. Gli arabi non portarono teatri ma menestrelli e poesia, i Normanni con le loro gesta crearono il punto di partenza per il teatro dei Pupi. I menestrelli arabi diventarono presto cantastorie e crearono un teatro senza attori dove la musica ed i versi ed i disegni degli avvenimenti descrivevano la storia. Il teatro dei Pupi benché appaia povero e primordiale fu una costante importante della cultura siciliana. I Pupari visitavano i paesi e creavano un teatro in ogni piazza recitando con rime e versi la storia dei Paladini. In ogni grande città vi era un teatro dei pupi che i preti non criticavano e poveri e ricchi frequentavano in quanto parlava di amore ed onore, di doveri e traditori, elementi molto forti nella nostra cultura. 

Verso la fine del 1700 incominciarono a nascere i primi teatri di cui vedi alcune foto e che erano frequentati dalla nobiltà e ricca borghesia. In realtà ve ne erano altri molto più popolari che erano una evoluzione del teatro dei pupi. Ma non sono solo questi i teatri in Sicilia. Io ricordo che la prima volta che andai a teatro fu quando avevo cinque anni per vedere una compagnia popolare che recitava una farsa molto divertente ma che basandosi su tradimenti e amori, io non capivo. Il teatro in cui ero era grandissimo, con le stelle per soffitto e tutti noi spettatori intorno al palcoscenico. Questo teatro era la piazza del paese dove era salito un camion con un piccolo palco e dei fondali pitturati per offrire uno spettacolo in occasione della festa patronale. Quella compagnia di attori popolari (nel senso che venivano dal popolo, recitando testi per il popolo), ricordava quello che era stata la “Commedia dell’Arte” quelle piccole compagnie di attori che invasero l’Europa nel 1500-1600 divulgando l’arte teatrale. Ora vi sono compagnie povere e con pochi mezzi che non sempre visitano il mio vecchio paese per recitare ancora i classici del teatro popolare; io però vedo che regolarmente sono i giovani del paese a farsi attori, a creare un palco nella piazza su cui recitare. 

Ed è questo che volevo dirti: un Teatro per recitare in Sicilia non è solo un edificio ma è una concezione popolare per ritrovarsi ed ascoltare, per partecipare, ridere e alla fine pensare. E questi luoghi che creano, seminano e diffondono emozioni in Sicilia ve ne sono tantissimi perché la Sicilia stessa, è un emozione.

The Ripley Scroll. The First Five Cryptograms. 1600s.

La vida es una obra de teatro que no permite ensayos, por eso canta, ríe, baila, llora; vive intensamente cada momento de tu vida... antes que el telón baje y la obra termine sin aplausos.

Es triste encontrarte en sueños, cuando en la vida ya te dejé de buscar.

Chocochips.

Me vio como se mira al través de un cristal

o del aire

o de nada.

Y entonces supe: yo no estaba allí

ni en ninguna otra parte

ni había estado nunca ni estaría.

Y fui como el que muere en la epidemia,

sin identificar, y es arrojado

a la fosa común.

Desamor | Rosario Castellanos

“El más bello sitio que en la tierra existe 
No es sin duda el césped de una tumba triste”

— Baal

“Si no tardas mucho, te esperaré aquí toda mi vida.”

— La importancia de llamarse Ernesto, Oscar Wilde.

Wildlife photographer Joe Neely captured two bees snuggling in a flower, and the adorable pictures show a beautiful side of them we rarely witness. 

Photos by Joe Neely - Via Bored Panda