{"id":13409,"date":"2016-10-26T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13409"},"modified":"2016-10-24T14:24:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T18:24:10","slug":"eso-giant-glowing-halos-observed-around-distant-quasars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13409","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Giant glowing halos observed around distant quasars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1638\/?lang\" target=\"_d\">ESO<\/a>\u00a0(European Southern Observatory):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1638\/?lang\" target=\"_blank\">ESO\u2019s VLT Detects Unexpected Giant Glowing Halos around Distant Quasars<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13410\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13410\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13410\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=13410\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"700,368\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;ESO\/Borisova et al.&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars. The discovery was made using the MUSE instrument at ESO\\u2019s Very Large Telescope.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1477483200&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Bright halos around distant quasars&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Bright halos around distant quasars\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars. The discovery was made using the MUSE instrument at ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-13410\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1.jpg\" alt=\"This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars. The discovery was made using the MUSE instrument at ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope.\" width=\"500\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1.jpg 700w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eso1638a1-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13410\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars. The discovery was made using the MUSE instrument at ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/images\/eso1638a\/\" target=\"_blank\">Larger images<\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"text_intro pr_first\">An international team of astronomers has discovered glowing gas clouds surrounding distant quasars. This new survey by the MUSE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope indicates that halos around quasars are far more common than expected. The properties of the halos in this surprising find are also in striking disagreement with currently accepted theories of galaxy formation in the early Universe.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W6Dzl_GDBZk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>The MUSE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope is able to collect three-dimensional data. Using this data cube, astronomers were able to create a 3D representation of the gas halos surrounding the distant quasars.\u00a0Credit:\u00a0ESO\/S. Cantalupo<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">An international collaboration of astronomers, led by a group at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ethz.ch\/en.html\" target=\"_blank\">Swiss Federal Institute of Technology<\/a> (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, has used the unrivalled observing power of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/teles-instr\/vlt\/vlt-instr\/muse\/\" target=\"_blank\">MUSE<\/a> on the <a href=\"http:\/\/eso.org\/vlt\" target=\"_blank\">Very Large Telescope<\/a> (VLT) at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory to study gas around distant active galaxies, less than two billion years after the Big Bang. These active galaxies, called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quasar\" target=\"_blank\">quasars<\/a>, contain <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supermassive_black_hole\" target=\"_blank\">supermassive black holes<\/a> in their centres, which consume stars, gas, and other material at an extremely high rate. This, in turn, causes the galaxy centre to emit huge amounts of radiation, making quasars the most luminous and active objects in the Universe.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The study involved 19 quasars, selected from among the brightest that are observable with MUSE. Previous studies have shown that around 10% of all quasars examined were surrounded by halos, made from gas known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Warm%E2%80%93hot_intergalactic_medium\" target=\"_blank\">intergalactic medium<\/a>. These halos extend up to 300 000 light-years away from the centres of the quasars. This new study, however, has thrown up a surprise, with the detection of large halos around all 19 quasars observed \u00a0\u2014 far more than the two halos that were expected statistically. The team suspects this is due to the vast increase in the observing power of MUSE over previous similar instruments, but further observations are needed to determine whether this is the case.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201c<em>It is still too early to say if this is due to our new observational technique or if there is something peculiar about the quasars in our sample. So there is still a lot to learn; we are just at the beginning of a new era of discoveries<\/em>\u201d, says lead author Elena Borisova, from the ETH Zurich.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The original goal of the study was to analyse the gaseous components of the Universe on the largest scales; a structure sometimes referred to as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Observable_universe#Large-scale_structure\" target=\"_blank\">cosmic web<\/a>, in which quasars form bright nodes <a href=\"#1\">[1]<\/a>. The gaseous components of this web are normally extremely difficult to detect, so the illuminated halos of gas surrounding the quasars deliver an almost unique opportunity to study the gas within this large-scale cosmic structure.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vVnhueGJFuI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars.\u00a0The discovery was made using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/teles-instr\/vlt\/vlt-instr\/muse\/\">MUSE<\/a> instrument at ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope. Credit: ESO\/Borisova et al.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The 19 newly-detected halos also revealed another surprise: they consist of relatively cold intergalactic gas \u2014 approximately 10 000 degrees Celsius. This revelation is in strong disagreement with currently accepted models of the structure and formation of galaxies, which suggest that gas in such close proximity to galaxies should have temperatures upwards of a million degrees.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It is the first time that MUSE and its unique observing capabilities have been used for a survey of this kind. The discovery shows the potential of the instrument for observing this type of object <a href=\"#2\">[2]<\/a>. Co-author Sebastiano Cantalupo is very excited about the new instrument and the opportunities it provides:<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201c<em>We have exploited the unique capabilities of MUSE in this study, which will pave the way for future surveys. Combined with a new generation of theoretical and numerical models, this approach will continue to provide a new window on cosmic structure formation and galaxy evolution<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notes<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a class=\"anchor\" name=\"1\"><\/a>[1] The cosmic web is the structure of the Universe at the largest scale. It is comprised of spindly <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Observable_universe#Large-scale_structure\" target=\"_blank\">filaments<\/a> of primordial material (mostly hydrogen and helium gas) and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter\" target=\"_blank\">dark matter<\/a> which connect galaxies and span the chasms between them. The material in this web can feed along the filaments into galaxies and drive their growth and evolution.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a class=\"anchor\" name=\"2\"><\/a>[2] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/teles-instr\/vlt\/vlt-instr\/muse\/\" target=\"_blank\">MUSE<\/a> is an integral field spectrograph and combines spectrographic and imaging capabilities. It can observe large astronomical objects in their entirety in one go, and for each pixel measure the intensity of the light as a function of its colour, or wavelength.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from\u00a0ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory): ESO\u2019s VLT Detects Unexpected Giant Glowing Halos around Distant Quasars An international team of astronomers has discovered glowing gas clouds surrounding distant quasars. This new survey by the MUSE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope indicates that halos around quasars are far more common than expected. The properties of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13409\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">ESO: Giant glowing halos observed around distant quasars<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-3uh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20581,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=20581","url_meta":{"origin":13409,"position":0},"title":"ESO: VLT spots gas halos that fed black holes in earliest galaxies","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A new ESO (European Southern Observatory) report: ESO Observations Reveal Black Holes' Breakfast at the Cosmic Dawn Astronomers using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope have observed reservoirs of cool gas around some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe. 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