The pioneer of quantum physics, Max Planck, was born today in 1858. In 1900, Planck developed an equation explaining the scattering of light from theoretical black bodies
Tammy Plotner and Jeff Barber, Universe Today
The pioneer of quantum physics, Max Planck, was born today in 1858. In 1900, Planck developed an equation that explains the scattering of light from theoretical black bodies. Interestingly, almost all the light we see in the sky originates from "black body radiation" from the gaseous surface of the stars. But where does the "absorbed light" come from? Nuclear fusion and a type of light so intense that the eye cannot see it.
To respect this principle, it is useful to direct the telescopes to sources that combine light from trillions of stars. We will continue our study of the Virgo-Virgo cluster. We will start with Nu and continue a line towards Omicron Virginis. We will continue the same distance towards NGC 4429 at the southern end of the low magnification field of view.
The pale NGC will be less visible further up, towards the northwest. NGC 4429 is a pale face-on galaxy with thin spiral arms and a bright star-like core. We will move another 1.5 degrees north and reach the elliptical galaxy M87 which has a magnitude of 8.6. You should also look at its companion NGC 4478, which has a magnitude of 11.2. M87 is a large galaxy, 120 thousand light years in diameter and it shows all its stars at once similar to globular clusters. M87 collected thousands of globular clusters, countless smaller galaxies and turned almost all the material inside it into stars. A galaxy whose total mass is about a trillion suns.
Look east-southeast towards M58, M59 and M60 which we watched yesterday. To the west-northwest of them are the twin lens galaxies - M84 and M86. A finger width north from M87 you reach M88, a tilted galaxy. Continue less than up to the west of M88 and we'll find the midline spiral galaxy M91. Less than a finger's width to the south-southwest of M91 is M90, a magnitude 9.5 galaxy, also an oblique spiral galaxy that was discovered and later added to the Messier list on that productive night of March 18, 1781.
Enough for one night under the stars?
