Surviving a Bear Attack

Now I know I said at the beginning of this that my blog would be set up as a "journey through time". I feel as though I may deviate from that a tad bit. I would like to shift our view to an awesome phenomena located close to the star "Porrima" in the constellation "Virgo". There is something happening there, something.... Amazing. There is a group of galaxies, five to be exact, all which are within very close proximity to eachother. This group is called "Stephen's Quintet".

One of these galaxies, NGC 7318b, is being a little invasive to say the least. It is crashing through the other galaxies at around 500 miles per hour and causing huge shockwaves to barge through the other members of Stephen's Quintet. This causes hydrogen molecules in the surrounding space to begin radiate large amounts of X-Ray radiation.  This strange...... Considering Hydrogen is a very weak emitter compared to other molecules (such as CO).

When scientists first saw this huge outburst of X-Ray radiation they went right to infrared spectrum to determine what elements were causing this. Usually, elements heavier than helium and dust particles are found, HOWEVER! This time, to everyones surprise, the spectrum was that of pure molecular Hydrogen.

Now why is this so amazing? What makes this Hydrogen more special than the stuff that fuels our sun or the small amounts of hydrogen in our atmosphere? Well I suppose I should tell you.

Normally, shockwaves of this magnitude would destroy the molecular Hydrogen (one of the reasons scientists were surprised) but this time something was different. The Hydrogen accumulated into tight, dense regions where the shockwave would be slowed down enough to prevent the molecules from breaking. It's this survival method that allows Hydrogen to last for long periods of time and be a catalyst in the creation of heavier elements.

That seems like it could be connected to.... hmmm.... possibly the creation of a star?! Holy cow that's amazing!

Anywho, I find Stephen's Quintet to be a fascinating occurrence. It helps us to view how Hydrogen can survive for long enough to start the creation of stars and eventually galaxies!

-MrAstrowhat

Food for Thought: We all know that we are composed of atoms. Atoms are composed of electrons, protons and neutrons, which are composed of subatomic particles such as quarks which are composed of...... Strings? *SPOILER ALERT*