Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
In our 13.8 billion-year-old universe, most galaxies like our Milky Way form gradually, reaching their large mass relatively late. But a new discovery made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of a massive rotating disk galaxy, seen when the universe was only ten percent of its current age, challenges the traditional models of galaxy formation. This research appears on 20 May 2020 in the journal Nature.
Galaxy DLA0817g, nicknamed the Wolfe Disk after the late astronomer Arthur M. Wolfe, is the most distant rotating disk galaxy ever observed. The unparalleled power of ALMA made it possible to see this galaxy spinning at 170 miles (272 kilometers) per second, similar to our Milky Way.
"While previous studies hinted at the existence of these early rotating gas-rich disk galaxies, thanks to ALMA we now have unambiguous evidence that they occur as early as 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang," said lead author Marcel Neeleman of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.
[...] "Most galaxies that we find early in the universe look like train wrecks because they underwent consistent and often 'violent' merging," explained Neeleman. "These hot mergers make it difficult to form well-ordered, cold rotating disks like we observe in our present universe."
In most galaxy formation scenarios, galaxies only start to show a well-formed disk around 6 billion years after the Big Bang. The fact that the astronomers found such a disk galaxy when the universe was only ten percent of its current age, indicates that other growth processes must have dominated.
Journal Reference:
Marcel Neeleman & J. Xavier Prochaska, et al. A Cold, Massive, Rotating Disk 1.5 Billion Years after the Big Bang. Nature, 2020 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2276-y
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Thursday May 21 2020, @11:19PM (3 children)
Sounds like they've found the original Warlock's Wheel. Explains why some of the universal constants (universal variables?) seem to change in certain directions.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday May 23 2020, @12:13AM (1 child)
Modded Interesting? Really? It was a drunken response to nobody replying in 4-5 hours so I did a First Post (which isn't something I care about) referring to a story (Niven?) I read 40 years ago in hopes of getting something started.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday May 23 2020, @12:18AM
Duck duck go says it was The Magic Goes Away, written by Niven in 1976. I should dig that book up again, I remember loving it.
Actually, DDG says it was a bunch of stories. It was evidently what he wrote when he first got tired of Known Space.
How come there aren't any movies or TV shows based on Known Space? I mean, as a minimum Gil should be dirt simple to do nowdays.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday May 23 2020, @06:10AM
Once they get high-resolution telescopes they'll be able to see that the "disc" is actually a giant turtle. With elephants on its back.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday May 21 2020, @11:32PM (3 children)
Where did it's rotational inertia come from?
This aspect of creation has been vexing me for years.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Kitsune008 on Friday May 22 2020, @01:08AM
It is the result of gravitational interactions occurring where clumps of matter(mass) are warping spacetime.
A crude and simplistic explanation:
There is a lot of stuff flying around, bumping into other stuff, just missing other stuff and deflected by the gravity of the other stuff. Eventually stuff starts to build enough mass(gravitational pull) to capture stuff that near-misses it into an orbit. Then the central mass plus the orbiting mass start to gravitationaly interact with even more stuff...eventually you end up with a spinning universe filled with spinning galaxies, full of spinning star systems like our own Solar System.
In a word: gravity. It really is that simple. (although, we are just beginning to have computers and programs powerful enough to run semi-accurate simulations of this) :-)
Do note that I have no intention of belittling the sheer awesomeness, wonder, complexity, and amazing nature of our Universe. Astrophysics has been an interest, subject of casual/informal research, and hobby of mine for over 50 years.
I have willingly jumped down that rabbit hole decades ago, and have no regrets...just an ever-growing fascination with new discoveries.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Friday May 22 2020, @01:13AM
spin.
tiny 'particles' all have spin.
big spin is combo of all the little spins.
(did I slaughter the fuck out of QM? well, at least I tried)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Friday May 22 2020, @03:55AM
It is the flatness that bothers me. Seems to give directionality, where perhaps it does not belong? Why are the non-flat, eliptical galaxies a later formation? What is the Universe trying to tell us? Rotund is better?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Dr Spin on Friday May 22 2020, @06:53AM (1 child)
Does it have ...
an ST506 interface?
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 22 2020, @09:48AM
yes, but the locals call it the blarg-69 interface, also it is in shades of pink and contaminated green. its a fact =)
-zug
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 22 2020, @02:36PM
> spinning at 170 miles (272 kilometers) per second, similar to our Milky Way.
Without knowing the radius this is meaningless
Spin is measured in revolutions per time period , typically radians per second